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CopyriGnuT, 1878, 
By HOUGHTON, OSGOOD AND COMPANY. 


All rights reserved. 


RIVERSIDE, CAMBRIDGE: 
STEHEREOTYPED AND PRINTED BY 
He O. HOUGHTON AND COMPANY. 














PREPACH. 





Tue Literature of Cookery is already enormous, 
The name of the receipt books is legion. I do not 
madly propose to add, as such, to the number. 

But what is a literature without a grammar ? 

I do propose to make a little grammar of cuisine. 

I mean to take up the very A B C of its etymol- 
ogy ; to give its parts of speech; to show the ele- 
mentary principles of its syntax. Then you may go 
to the encyclopedias and libraries. All print will be 
open to you. 

With due and thankful acknowledgments to the 
books of direction that have helped me in more 
than thirty years of housekeeping to get my ex- 
perience, I must say that in none of them have I 
found what would anticipate that experience with a 
sufficiently definite showing of “Just How.” In no 
recipe that I ever mixed by has the mysterious ele- 
ment of ‘“‘knack,” ‘judgment,’ “gumption,” been 
allowed, resolved, and measured with the least at- 
tempt at precision. Yet it should be, more than — 
even instead of — ingredient, weight, or proportion. 
Good guess and clever invention may compass 


iv PREFACE. 


these; the other is the ¢vade, the handling, — that 
one must be apprenticed to learn. You can catch 
it from any old woman whom you see do the thing ; 
that is, if you have any constitutional aptitude to 
catch it with. 

I propose to be that old woman, and to let you 
see, over my shoulder, how I do a few things that 
I have found out what seems to me a best way of 
doing. 

You cannot learn to knit by a pattern-book that 
tells you to “knit four, purl three, cast off one;” 
you must be shown first how to hold your needles, 
how to catch your yarn and put it over, how to pick 
the stitch through. You could not make a garment 
by being told to “close the side seams, hem the 
bottom, gather the top into a band,” if you did not 
first know how to use thimble and needle together ; 
how to run and stitch and over-sew; how to turn a 
hem and fit a band. 

So that seeing done is not all, either; lectures 
and experiments — even looking over shoulders — 
will not put the secrets into your memory, much less 
into your fingers’ ends. Therefore I mean, after I 
have shown you rules and methods, to stand by 
while you do the examples. I mean to give you 
simplest details and sequences ; to tell you when to 
take this, when that, what .to put them in, how to 
handle and mix them. I shall be so particular, so 
repetitious, such a very Ollendorff of an old woman 
in my exercises, that you may think it nonsense in 


PRELPACE. Vv 


the reading ; but I shall only reiterate in print what 
has to be reiterated in memory and practice a great 
many more times, before one can do the things pre- 
cisely, easily, off-hand, without direction or reference. 

More than half the difficulty and bewilderment of 
kitchen work is from taking things wrong end fore- 
most, or plunging into the middle, and so making 
an anxious muss of it, instead of a clean, clear, suc- 
cessful process. I will save you, if I can, the using 
of an unnecessary cup or spoon, or the hurry of a 
critical moment for want of a dish or an ingredient 
that should be right next at hand. 

I mean, too, to show you the natural classification 
of processes, instead of multiplying formule which 
only differ from each other in slightest changes of 
proportion, and which you can vary for yourself and 
at your convenience, if you once know how certain 
elements invariably work together, and what sim- 
plest mixtures form the bases of whole orders of 
dishes and dressings. 

There are in cookery, as in all things, three def- 
inite stages of doing; and they are the stages of 
the children’s play-rhyme : — 

“One to make ready ; 
Two to prepare ; 


Three to go slambang, 
And there you are !” 


If you can make ready and prepare, you can go 
s'ambang with the most delicious confidence. 
‘I do not wish, or expect, to replace or to render 


vi PREFACE. 


useless the fine compendiums of housewifery like 
Marion Harland’s, Mrs. Cornelius’s, Mrs. Putnam’s, 
and others. I only put in your hands alittle primer, 
which you can learn first, and turn back to when 
you want any rule of spelling or parsing to help you 
through with a difficult construction in an advanced 
and general work. 

There are no fancy or hearsay recipes in this 
manual of examples. Neither are there any so 
closely duplicated, or so superfluous, as to perplex 
you in your choice, or be needless in your regular 
repertory. You may begin with “ Yeast,’ and cook 
through to ‘“ Cider Apple Sauce,” with perfect reli- 
ance. Having done so, in such order and combina- 
tion as you found convenient, you will have set forth 
from time to time, in your results, just such a fair, 
simple, palatable, and su ficient variety of food-prep- 
arations as befits most farily tables, from which you 
may form a comfortable bill of fare for the year 
round. By the same progress, you have become, in 
like degree, a capable journeywoman at your trade. 

Pass on, then, if it please your turn, to skilled 
craft, high art, grand-mistress-ship. 

I wish you a very friendly good-by. 

A; Deraay. 


CON LENTS, 


———o—— 
PAGE 
PREFACE 3 . ; . : M F 5 = z pag 
SECTION I. 


THINGS TO WORK WITH . x e , z P , erik 
List for the Tin Closet . : P P . . ° 5 
List for the Dish Closet Z P H Sella & 


SECTION II. 


PRELIMINARIES s ‘ - “ 5 : "i : P 6 
Time & e e e ry e ° ¥ 10 
- Time-Table : wee ohice ; ; ; : . . II 


Time-Table: Meats: Ordinary Roasts Dike Vee erin BE 
Time-Table: Boiled Meats A ° ° . : . 12 
Time-Table: Fish ? : ‘ ’ : : ‘ “33 


Measures . ‘ : ° . ° . 13 
Order and Methods of Mixing min te aT e eo OS ae Tae BS 
First Method . : : ‘ : . F 16 


Second Method . : : : ‘ abies ; s. FO 
Third Method . : i ser fen ° x : 17 
Fourth Method . ; : . : . . ‘ ke LT 
Fifth Method . ; “ < ; ° . ° e 18 
Sixth Method : ; 2 : : A . ° “ko 
Thickening é ; : . : : . ° : 18 


SECTION III. 


RECIPES. 


Part I.— YEAST, BREAD, AND CAKES  . ; 2 A BO) 
Batters , : : : ; ~ - ‘ ‘ F 48 
Baking Powder . : : ° : ° ° ‘ 9 20 
Biscuits, Cream-tartar ; : i . . . . 25 


Vili CONTENTS. 


Biscuits, Soda ; > a . 3 
Biscuits, Yeast . : : “ 
Biscuits, Cold, to warm over 

Bread, Brown . ¢ ; " 3 
Bread, Graham. s ‘ . 
Bread, Graham, without Pager 

Bread, White -“- % : . . 
Bread, Sour ‘ 5 : ; 
Brewis, Brown real: , ; : - 
Brewis, White Bread . . 

Buckwheat Cakes . ¥ ‘ 


Corn Muffins . : : : 5 
Crackers, Crisped ; : : ‘ 
Cream Crust, “ Gayworthy ” 

Crumpets : : 

Doughs 


Doughs, Semi 
Doughnuts, Plain Ruised 


Doughnuts, Raised with Butter ahd Eggs ‘ 


Doughnuts, Soda : 
Doughnuts, Soda, with Butter dnd Bags 
Griddle Cakes, Bread-crumb 
Griddle Cakes, €ountry 
Griddle Cakes, Cream-tartar 
Griddle Cakes, Egg Batter 
Griddle Cakes, Graham 
Griddle Cakes, Raised . 
Griddle Cakes, To a 

Gruels, etc.. ; : > . ° 
Gruel, Arrowroot - : : : 
Gruel, Indian Meal 4 5 3 ° 
Milk Porridge . ‘ . : : 
Milk, Thickened . : . . . 


H uckleberry Cake ° . . 
Muffins, in general 

Muffins, Corn (Sponge bon Cake) 
Muffins, Graham 

Muffins, Soda 


CONTENTS. 


Muffins, Rye . 

Muffins, Yeast : F 
Pastry. .. ‘ F 
Pie-crust, easily ide ad very nice . 
Pie-crust, Crisp and ae ‘ 
Popovers , 

Rice Cakes me ° . 
Rye Cakes . j : . : . 
Rye Drop Cakes . : . 

Short Cake, Light 

Short Cake, Light Pastry 

Short Cake, “‘Gayworthy ” Str awberry 
Short Cake, Strawberry 

Split Cake, or Spider Cake 

Sponge Corn Cake 


Waffles ; : a ‘ : 


Waffles, Raised . . * at 
Ways to use Bread, Toasts, etc. . : 

Toast, Buttered : , 

Toast, Cream 

Toast, Milk ‘ : : é 

Toast, Split Cake : . : ° 

Toast, Water ‘ 


ParT II.— CAKE . ‘ ‘ é 
Lemon Queen Cake 5 
One, Two, Three, Four Cake. 
Orange, or Gold Cake . 
Old-fashioned Pound Cake . = 
Queen Spice Cake : ° 
Snow, or Silver Cake ; ‘ 
Sponge Cake ; ‘ 

Cakes raised with Yeast . : ‘ ‘ 
Buns : ‘i ‘ 2 ‘ ‘ 
Loaf Cake . ; F ; ‘ P 
Icing for Cake é 
Gingerbread, Plain. . 


Gingerbread, Queen. ‘ . . 


Gingerbread, Rich Spiced. «© 


x | CONTENTS. 


Cookies, etc. ; ‘ ; ; ; 5 . - 284 
- Cookies, Crisp, rolled out : . ° ° . . . go 
Cookies, One, Two, Three, Four . - ; é 2 . 88 
Drop Cakes . : i “ . ° ot (QB 
Gingerbread, Thin aiolesces : é ‘ ‘ : ‘ Peer 53 
Gingerbread, Thin Sugar . ‘ ‘ ‘ : , . 89 


* Ginger Snaps. : - : 3 : - OI 
Closing Remarks upon Gales male : 93 
Measures of Flour with different moistening Materials, for 

different Cake Consistencies . ik MR SBS BG 


Part III.— TEA, COFFEE, AND SIMPLE BREAKFAST DISHES 94 
Coffee : : : : : : : ‘ - 95, 96 
Chocolate, Cocoa, Brom, etc. % ‘ . F ‘ i+) "96 
Teanks : ; : . . . “ : ‘ 94 
Eggs, Boiled ; . . . . : ‘ ‘ Pay 
Eggs, Dropped . : : 0 ty At ane i é 98 
Eggs, Fried . : : - ‘ é ° - : | §Q7 
Eggs, Scrambled. ° o> See et MS ; 98 
Omelette : . . ° ‘ ° : . om tO9 
Fish, Fresh, Pecledte . ° ° ° 5 . . 112 
Fish, Fresh, Minced . A ; z , : é oO EI2 
Fish, Salt . : 4 . 4 . . ¢ F j 108 
Fish, Salt, Balls. ° ° ° ° ° . : - 109 
Fish, Salt, Minced . : 5 ° : ~ ‘ , ITO 
Fish, Salt, Scorched . : : : " , ‘ eee be! 
Fish, Smoked . : Ag . ite : : III 
Fish, Pickled ‘ ‘4 ; ° ° . : : ELS 
Ham, Broiled .. . * “4 ° ‘ i ‘ : 114 
Ham, Fried . : : A ; : $ j : es 
Hasty Pudding . ‘ . ‘ : ; 102, 103 
Hasty Pudding, Fried in Baiae : . : : 5 F635 104 
Hasty Pudding, Fried in Slices 3 é pole i 104 
Hominy, Fine : : ‘ : : ° ° : . FOO. 
Hominy, Coarse ° 5 . : ° : . ‘ IOI 
Hominy Cakes. ‘ : . . ‘ 5 i 
Hominy, Fried . : : 5 : : i : ¥ 102 
Potato Balls . ; 3 5 ° : : ‘ . . 108 
Potatoes, Fried . : ; ; ¥ 5 a 5 HOT ZOA: 


CONTENTS. 


Potatoes, Fried Raw . ‘ * : . : 
Potatoes, Saratoga 


Potatoes, Soufflée Sy a ‘ . 
Potatoes, Stewed ~ : 4 = : 
Sausages, Fried . : ° ° ° : . 


Sausage Cakes, Baked  . : : 


ParT IV.— Soups, STEWS, AND FRICASSEES 


General Principles 

Thickening Soups and Gravies é 
Browned Flour, for thickening Soups anid Giavies 
Beereren. . : “ : : 

Broth, Chicken . ‘ ; : ° 

- Broth, Mutton . = ‘ : ' F . 
Amber Soup. . . . ° ° . : 


Beef Soup ; . ‘ ° ° ° ° . 


Drawn Soup é , . Pe Dea ° 


Oyster Soup”. : § aes : . . 


Pea Soup .. : ; . ° . 

Pee uree” Fs ee, : ea 

Turtle Bean Soup : . . . 
Vegetable Soups, Simple . j 2 : ° : 
Vegetable Soups, Mixed . ; ° ° 

White Soup. - : : . ° 


Butter and Cream Thickening, for Stew or Fricassee . 


Dumplings, for Soup or Stew . 


Stews, Simple. ; : ‘ . ° : 
Stew, Irish : : . 5 “ ; ° 
Stew, White Veal ; : : ‘ . : 


Fricassees 4 
Brown Fricassee, Chicken : : : : 
Brown Fricassee, Veal . : F 


White Fricassee, of Veal or Chicken ‘ : : 


Chowder, Fish . : : : : : “ 
Chowder, Clam . A pA ; . 3 ‘ 


Xu CONTENTS. 


Stewed Clams . 
Macaroni and Tomato 


PART V.—FISH . : : : ° 
Baked Fish . : 
Boil-bake, with Cream Tessie 
Boil-bake, with Sauce-gravy 
Roast-bake, with SERS 

Lo Bowl : 
Boiled Cod, Cushy or otter White Fish. 
Boiled Cod and Oysters. : 


Broiled Fish. . e e e e ° : e 


Broiled Fish Steaks 
Butter Sauce, for Boiled Bish. 


Cream-butter Sauce, for Fish and other Dienee 5 


Fried Fish F 3 2 
Fried Fish, large, iced : - : 
Fried Fish, small, whole . 


Part VI.— MEATS ; % ‘ : 
Boiled Meats . A : : . : 
Beef, Alamode . ‘ : : ‘ 
Beef, Bouilli . : : 2 : 4 : 
Beef, Corned . ; E ‘ ‘ ‘ 


Chickens A 3 F : ‘ 

Ham. ; f = : : < 
To brown Boiled ron ; vi - : : 
Lamb ; 4 < é : ; ‘ 
Mutton A ¢ F 4 ; 


Pigeons (Potted) | é : - A : ° 


Pork, Corned : : . ° : 
Sweetbreads (Stewed) . : : . 


Tongue : : . . ° 
Turkey 

Dressing, for Boned Tirey: and Behe Stuffed Meats 
Meals : ° : 5 ; : ; 

Broiled Meats . : . ° ‘ : é 
Beefsteak . : : : . . . : 


Birds. Mila Slat . ° ° . 


142 
142 


143 
145 
148 
147 
145 
143 
149 
149 
150 
150 
144 
148 
151 
ISI 
152 


153 
153 
155 
153 
156 
163 
160 
161 
160 
159 
164 
161 
158 
157 
161 
161 
158 
178 
178 
181 


CONTENTS. Xili 


Chicken . i 4 A : 5 : ‘ Q é 180 
Grouse. Fs ; 3 : 5 é ; , é . I8t 


Veal. : 2 : é ; : ; : ‘ : 180 
Roast Meats. : 4 . . ° . : - 165 
Beef, Mutton, or ah F 3 é : f 168 
Yorkshire oi with Roast Beef ea , ; . 168 
Birds ; 2 ; | . J § ; é 174 
Chickens . : ‘ : . : ‘ : e174 


Chicken or Veal Pie : ‘ : : ome ae! ¥ 175 
Ducks . : : : 3 ‘ é : A ; Fis 7) 


Goose : 4 : ° . : : : : : 174 
Grouse : : 7 : oi. ‘ é ‘ LA 
Pork . Z : . ° ° ° j 170 
- Pork and Pers. Baked d : 2 - F : Pee 8 
Sweetbreads . ; : ‘ . : ‘ : ; 170 
Turkey. ; : : ‘ : ‘ a : : oar 192 
Veal : : é ‘ ° ° ° ° . ‘ 169 
Roast Meats, Dasevied ox over ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘ . ‘ IFS 
Beet*: : : ; ‘ : ° : mea uae 175 
Mutton and Em Z F . F ° : 7 ve t70 
Pork . : Z ° ° : : 2 4 177 


Turkey, Chicken; tes ~ ‘ ‘ ° . ° ‘ > hg 
Veal. : : : ° : ° . . . 3 176 


ParT VII. — SAuces : rere eee ares : . . I81 
Apple Sauce . : : . . ° : : 186, 187 
Bread Sauce : . . ° ° . . : ae 5 
Butter, Melted thick. vines ° ° ° ‘ : 185 
Cauliflower Sauce ‘ oe eae alee . ‘ . e183 
Celery Sauce . : nerts ° : : . : 182 


Cranberry Sauce . ° é ° ° : A : ee TOs 
Mint Sauce : : . . . . ° . mee, 15% 
Pudding Sauce . - 7 ‘ . - ‘ : o 287 
Cold Pudding Sauce : : ‘ : . H : 183 
Salad Dressing . . ‘ : : : # 183 
Salad Dressing, watiaat Oil ‘ . : . ° . 185 


PART VIII. — VEGETABLES : : ‘ é Fp é - 189 
Asparagus . Sty PR hot aay tl dak tae Selceaa Aee 198 


Xiv 


CONTENTS. 


Beans, Shelled , - 4 
Beans, String . : ‘ : 
Beets 3: seus ao eg ae 
Cabbage . : ghikdidy et 
Cauliflower . ' 4 A 
Corn, : : . ° 
Canned Corn, or a FS :. 
Egg Plant . , : ce 


Macaroni . A ‘. 
Onions . ‘ : ; : 
Oyster Plant ‘ : : 
Parsnips . < ae ite . 
Peas. ; ; A e 
Potatoes . : ‘ : “ 
Potato, Browned . < ‘ 
Potato, Cream . a : s 
Potato, Snow 

Rice . 

Spinach 


Squash, Summer 
Squash, Winter 
Tomatoes . 
Turnips 


Part IX.— PUDDINGS AND PIES 


Puddings, general divisions 
Pudding Crusts ‘ 
Pudding, to boil, in Tin Boiler 
Apple Tumeuse ; : 
Apple Dumpling, to warm over 
Huckleberry Hollow 
Pan-dowdy 


Soft-mixed Puddings 


Bread Pudding, Boiled 
Fruit Pudding, Boiled . 
Huckleberry Pudding 

Indian Pudding, Baked 
Indian Pudding, Boiled 


Plum Pudding, Boiled or Baked . 


CONTENTS, 


Rice, Tapioca, and Sago BEE ete. . 
Luemon Pdding . : . : 
Rice Pudding . : ; . . ; 

Sago Pudding. . ° . . : 
Tapioca Pudding . . Sera : : 
Sandwich Puddings . , : . . . , 

Apple Sandwich Fi 

Berry Sandwich . . : . 

Apple or Berry Scallop : : - 

Bread and Butter Pudding . : P : . 

Bread and Butter Plum Pudding . : : 
Batter and Custard Puddings . ° . : 

Batter Pudding , : . : 

Custard Pudding . 

Pancakes . : : : ° . , 


Sunderland Puddin ee : 4 “ A . . 


Meringue . : : ° . ° 
Pg tig ‘ ; : : : s ° : 
Apple Pie . F : : : ; 
Apple Pie, Sauce- filled : : 2 ° 

Apple Pie, Sliced 
Berry, Cherry, Peach, ee aber Pies . 


Cranberry Tarts . ; . . ° 
Small Tarts . A 4 ‘ - : 
Custard Pie ‘ ; - ; - 
Lemon Pie . : 2 : : 5 : 
Mince Pie , ; ; : 4 


Rhubarb Pie : - é ; ° 
Squash Pie 

PART X.— JELLIES, BLANC-MANGES, AND CREAMS 

Fellies : d : . 

Jelly-bag.. ; ; : : P : ’ 
Coxe’s Gelatine 
Calf’s-foot Jelly . 2 2 : 
Chicken, or Veal jelly. : . : . : 
Chicken, or Veal, Jellied. .°.< 5 ; . 
Fruit-juice Jelly ; : : : : . 
Lemon Jelly ‘ : ‘ : : oe. 


Xvi CONTENTS. 


Orange Jelly . : : 

Sea-moss Jelly . : ° . . 

Tapioca or Sago Jelly. : : . 

Apple and Sago . ; ° . ° 

Wine Jelly : pare ° : . 
Blanc-manges . . 

Corn- stateh or Arsowroet Bites sane : 

Farina Blanc-mange 


Gelatine Blanc-mange . : : . 
Sea-moss Blanc-mange : ° 5 
Tapioca or Sago oo ee 

Creams . : . ° ° 
Whipped Crean ; : ° 


Cream, Simple, Whipped 
Charlotte-Russe 

Bavarian Cream . i e : 4 
Chocolate Cream 

Velvet Cream 

Flummery 

Snow 


pei Lo iay 
251 
os Bes 


253 
OE age 


ParT XI.— Syrups, CORDIALS, FRUIT-JELLIES, SHRUBS, WINES, 


PRESERVES, JAMS, MARMALADES 
Simple Syrup : 
Cold Syrup, or Eau See : 
Cordial : 
Cherry Corda: 
Shrub 
Wine 


Felltes >. ‘. E : : Z f : 


Preserves . 


Apples, Pears, ead Crab-apples, pieeereed 


Apples, Coddled . 

Berries, Preserved ; 

Cherries or Plums, Preserved 

Melon Rind, Preserved 

Peaches and Pine-apples, Dresciaeal ° 
Quinces . . 5 : : ° 


255 
256 


\ 


CONTENTS. 


Ae Oe a al 


Marmalade . ‘ . . 
Orange Marmalade . 
Simple Fruit Sauces . ° 
Baked Apples. . 
Dried Apple Sauce . . 

Stewed Prunes. . 


PART X1I--—PICKLES .: . 

Sour Pickles 
Vinegar-pickle . 
Cabbage, Pickled . 
Cauliflower, Pickled 
Chow-chow . “ 
Cucumbers, Bickled r 
Mangoes, Pickled 
Melon Rind, Pickled 
Peaches, Pickled . 
Tomatoes, Pickled 
Walnuts and Butternuts 
Handsome Red Pickles 
Cherries, Barberries 
Pickle Salad 

Sweet Pickles 
Apples, Pears, and Paes 
Cherries 


Melon Rind P F a 


Plums, étc. >. « 7 “ 
Spiced Currants 
Cider Apple Sauce 


e 


SECTION 


SYNTAX . P : 
Breakfast, No. I. . P 
Breakfast, No. II. . 2 
Breakfast, No. IIT. 5 
Breakfast, No. IV. . z 
Dinner, No.I. . 

6 


xviii CONTENTS. 


Dinner, No. II. 5 = 

Dinner, No. III. . ; ° : 
Dinner, No. IV. : : - 

Tea, No... 5 = “| * 
APE MO ae ot pes 5 : . 
Tea, No. III. 3 : ; . 


Tea: INO. LNG ss 4 ‘ : ‘ 


Scalloped Oysters ° ° 
Seven Little Things to Koon . . 
Last Words . : : . 


PUSS HOW. 


ern 


DEL IGN fF, 


THINGS TO WORK WITH. 


In general, as in particular, my subject naturally 
resolves itself into three steps or divisions. 

The “making ready section” shall be a chapter 
of hints as to what one needs, and in the best ar- 
rangement of things, to work with. I mean essen- 
tials, things everybody can have in a simple way. 
Those who are able, and like, may be a great deal 
more elaborate and luxurious, with pantries, fix- 
tures, appliances of all sorts, some of which, very 
likely, I have never heard of. | 

First, a neat kitchen. And have it sunny, if you 
can ; with windows on the south side, and closets 
on the north. 

In this kitchen, three tables, if you have room for 
them: one (which I will call the cook’s dresser) for 
preparing meat, vegetables, etc., and for dishing up; 
one clear, for general handiness ; and one a dresser 
for ntce work. 


The first should be near the sink and ihe fire. 
t 


z YUST HOW. 


The second should be beside, or near the first ; but 
easily movable anywhere. Have it beside the fire, 
with all your needful things arranged upon it, when 
busy with frying, baking, or preserving. The third 
on a separate side of the room, but in good light. 
This is the lady’s cooking table. 

The cook’s dresser should have, about, or within 
reach of it, these things : — 

A small meat-block and hatchet. 

A little saw, for bones. 

A meat knife. 

Rolling-board and pin. 

Tinned spoons; and skewers. 

Washing-pans, for meat and vegetables. 

Chopping-tray and knife. 

A small, sharp, narrow-bladed, wooden-handled 
knife, for paring vegetables and fruit, and for many 
other things. 

A cupboard and shelf, with a drawer above them, 
in this table, will make a sufficient accommodation 
for all these articles; spoons, etc., are conveniently 
kept hung upon small hooks beside or over it. 

Over the sink may hang the pans mentioned, also 
dish-pan, saucepans, dippers, tin measures, etc. A 
leather strap tacked up, so as to form sockets for 
knives, etc., is very handy. Below will be the usual 
closet for iron pots, kettles, griddle, spiders, —a large 
and a light one, — roasting pan, etc., etc. Among 
these; have a broad, open iron kettle, four 6r five 
inches deep, for a SB for doughnuts, fish- 
balls, etc. 


YUST HOW. 3 


Of course there will be elsewhere a tin-closet and 
a dish-closet, or one ample for both, in which addi 
tional wares and utensils will be sorted and arranged. 
I will give essential lists of these presently. 

The lady’s table should have two or three shelves 
over it ; one also beneath it like the cook’s table, to 
slip the moulding-board and pins upon when not in 
use. 

Have two rolling-pins; an ordinary sized one, and 
one of half the diameter, for light, delicate rolling, 
as cakes, etc. 

A cupboard below would be well, for cake-tins, 
etc. And have here, above all, a couple of sheet- 
zron loaf-pans, for baking. You will hardly wish to 
use anything else for loaves of bread or cake, when 
once you have possessed them. 

Let the lowermost of your shelves above the table 
be far enough above it to admit of a jar or box of 
sugar, the same for eggs, and for any other things 
you may like to have right at hand, in quantity, for 
your own cooking. 

Upon the shelves have cups, bowls, baking-dishes, 
measures ; small sifter, strainer, pails for boiling, 
one within another ; spice-box, tin canisters of herbs 
and condiments,.etc.; whatever you gather, as you 
go on, for your own use in your work. 

Insist on having all these things kept sacred to 
you, and ready in their places. It is worth while to 
have in the servant’s closet duplicates of all that 
are needful. Unless, indeed, you have that friendly, 


4 YUST HOW. 


capable, trustworthy woman who can do “lady’s 
cooking”’ for you, and in such service minister at 
your own shrine. 

Your table-drawer may hold your own kitchen 
towels, aprons, etc. Keep a supply of good strainer- 
cloths, fine and coarse, here also. 

Hang your egg-beater, nutmeg-grater, lemon-gra- 
ter, little chopping-knife, spoons, ladle, etc., up and 
down the frame-edges of your shelves. 

Keep a palette-kuife just where you can lay your 
hand on it, for scraping out your cups and mixing- 
bowls. 

The best kind of common sifter, for light work, 
is that in the pail or basket shape, which you shake 
by the handle. 

The most convenient spice-box arrangement is a 
caster-stand, with half a dozen little tin canisters, 
labeled. Keep in one of them metxed spice, such as 
will be spoken of in its place. 

For an egg-beater, I like a large, strong, spoon- 
shaped wire one, better than any rotary or other 
patented affair. A broad fork beats yolks, a small 
quantity of whites, or an egg or two, better than 
the large beater. 

Have a chair,—or chair and cushion, — high 
enough to enable you to sit at your table for much 
of your work; even, if need be, for rolling out cakes 
and pie-crust. A footstool beneath will make you 
- utterly comfortable. 

And now, my lady, —my dame, — bread-guardian 


YUST HOW. 8 


and house-queen, — you have your Boffin’s bower, 
your feudal-hall arrangement; dais and domestic 
poetry at one end, — prose and “the marsh,” if they 
must be, at quite the other. ‘ 


LIST FOR THE TIN-CLOSET. 


Two steamers: an ordinary-sized oné for general 
use, and a small one to fit over the tea-kettle, but 
projecting sufficiently to contain a small pudding or 
half a dozen custards. 

Colander. — Vegetable-sifter. — Gravy-strainer. 

Four sheet-pans, for biscuits, gingerbread, etc. 

Four deep loaf-pans: two brick-loaf size: two 
larger. These of sheet-cron, in great preference to 
tin. 

Six deep, and six shallow, old-fashtoned pie-plates, 
with flat rims. The ordinary modern pie-plates, with 
sloping rims, let your edge-crusts slip down into the 
pie-mixture. 

Four Washington pie-plates, with upright rims. 

Eighteen muffin-rings: eighteen stone baking- 
cups. 

Three block-tin or enameled iron saucepans (pint, 
quart, and two-quart measures). _ 

Tin measures: gill, half-pint, pint, and quart. 
The small ones will be accurate for All “cup” quan. 
tities and proportions, in following recipes. 

Two porcelain-lined kettles, four-quart each. 


6 YUST HOW. 


FOR THE DISH-CLOSET. 


Two large mixing-bowls. 

Two two-quart bowls, with lips. 

Three, each, of quart and pint bowls. 

Three, each, of quart and two-quart round nap- 
pies. 

Two platters. 

All these of. .common “Co (25. sivare nor yellow 
earthen. 

Three blanc-mange moulds, different sizes. 

Six deep plates, in which things may be set away, 
that are left cold from the table. 

Six pitchers, pint and quart sizes. 

Two large pitchers, 

Two stone jugs, quart measure or more each, with 
tight corks or plugs, —for yeast. 


SECTION il, 


PRELIMINARIES. 


? 


Under the head of “ preparing ’”’ come all the lit- 
tle rules and hints for allowance of time, the care of 
fire and oven, the best way to do the initial things 
that are only mentioned or taken for granted in the 
usual recipes. 

So I will set down here a few such little proved 
ways and tricks of the trade as I think have much 
concern with the comfort of doing, and the success 
of things done. 


YUST HOW. 7 


I recommend these rules to be learned in ad- 
vance, and carefully remembered in practice. 

Rute 1. Always have hot water, both in tea- 
kettle and dish-kettle. 

RuLE 2. Look to fire and oven before getting 
ready to bake. The fire should be clear and solid at 
the bottom, and through the middle, with a replen- 
ishment of fuel already kindling at top that will last 
through the baking. For bread, and most baking, 
the oven should be of such a heat that you can 
hold your hand in it while you count twelve, moder- 
ately, but no longer. 

If, by any accident, the oven proves much too 
hot at the time when you are obliged to put in cake, 
or any preparation which ought not to wait, invert 
a shallow tin plate upon the floor of it, and set the 
baking-pan on that; and put a shallow dish or pan 
“£ cold water upon the grated shelf of the oven 
above. 

Rue 3. Put all your dishes, implements, and 
materials on your table before you begin a piece of 
work; the ingredients weighed or measured, and 
the utensils ranged together, — spoons, forks, and 
beaters in their respective bowls; a tool and a re- 
ceptacle for every part. 

In weighing, use a spring balance, and a paper 
5ag to hold the article, such as flour, sugar, and 
even butter. The bag weighs nothing, and you 
have no troublesome, fractional allowance to make. 
Save your paper bags which come from the grocer. 


8 YUST HOW. 


“Butter your baking or boiling tins. 

If you have spices to mix, lemons to grate, or the 
like, do such things. 

Prepare your flour with salt, soda, etc., if di- 
rected. | 

If milk is to be boiled, put it in your double 
boiler, set it on the fire while you beat eggs, etc. 
If it is ready before you need it, remove the boiler 
to the back or the hearth of your stove. It can 
wait ; only keep it covered, that the skim may not 
rise and harden. 

Milk, or any preparation that is easily scorched, 
should always be put in a double boiler; the outer 
one containing water, the inner that which is to be 
cooked. Two nice tin pails, one to set within an- 
other, make a cheap and convenient “ bain marie.” 
These ought to be always in i upon your 
“own” shelves. 

Rue 4. In cold weather, lay eggs in warm 1 water 
a few minutes before breaking them. They will 
beat much quicker and better. If you do this, be 
particular to wipe each egg before breaking, that 
no water may run in with it to the bowl. 

Beat yolks first; they will bear to stand. Do it 
with a broad fork, unless you have a great many, 
when you may prefer a wire beater. 

Beat with a flop; that is, carry a flap over with 
every stroke, making a thick sound that thickens 
and softens as you persist. A coarse, bubbly froth 
is a bad beginning. You want to keep your egg 


UST HOW. 9 


smooth, and let it turn imperceptibly from smooth- 
ness to the finest aeration. 

Beat yolks until they are of a /emon yellow in- 
stead of an orange, and all of an even, velvety, 
spongy foam. 

Beat the whites in a large bowl. Whip them 
over and over, with the same /op as before, cutting 
through to the bottom and from side to side every 
time. As you proceed you will be able to wizd or 
scroll the foam; that is, you can keep an axis to 
your revolutions, round which the “flap” will turn. 
Continue until the foam is stiff and dry, so that you 
can turn the bowl upside-down without its sliding 
out. } 

RuLE 5. When soda is used, mix the measure of 
it, finely powdered, or “ braided,” into the measure 
of the flour, with salt at the same time. When soda 
and cream-tartar are used, mix both thoroughly to- 
gether, and then both into the flour, all being per- 
fectly dry. This is another reversal of common 
practice. I find, nearly without exception, that 
mixtures chiefly dependent upon soda for the rais- 
ing are surer and better for doing in this way. Of 
course, there ave exceptions, which will appear in 
their special recipes. They are usually those where 
a slow mixing of many ingredients is necessary ; 
this obliges the adding of the soda, dissolved, at 
the very last. Only a quick tossing together, which 
brings all the elements into action at once, will do 
when the lightening ingredient has been prepared 
in the flour beforehand. 


IO YUST HOW. 


Rute 6. To cream butter, let it stand in a warm 
place a little while before you begin to work it. 
Do not let it really melt. Work with a spoon until 
you can stir; stir until you can beat. For nice 
cookery, it should be light like cream, so that you 
can whip it. 


TIME. 


The fore-calculation of time belongs to the pre- 
liminaries. One must have an idea of how longa 
thing will take in cooking, to know when to begin 
it, and in what order to proceed with several things 
that will all be wanted together. 

Biscuits and small cakes will bake in from fifteen 
to twenty minutes. 

Loaves of bread, of quite moderate size, in from 
half an hour to three quarters. Large loaves, an 
hour. 

Brown bread, boiled, three hours. 

Loaves of sponge-cake, three quarters of an hour. 

Loaves of richer cake, according to size, of course, 
but averaging from forty-five minutes to an hour. 

Thin cakes, to be looked at very surreptitiously, 
in ten minutes; to be shifted in the oven guzckly, 
when necessary for baking evenly. To be watched 
till done. 

Baked puddings, such as bread, rice, tapioca, sago, 
cocoa-nut, lemon, take one hour. 

Indian pudding, plum-pudding, two hours. 

Custard, and cream varieties,.must be watched 
after ten minutes: bake, perhaps, twenty. 


YUST HOW. Il 


Batter, Sunderland, and cottage puddings average 
forty-five minutes. 

Boiled puddings, — apple, plum, Indian, huckle- 
berry, —three hours. 

Pie-crust, baked, about half an hour. 


! TIME-TABLE. 
VEGETABLES. 
Thirty minutes. — Potatoes; peas; asparagus ; 
com; rice; canned tomatoes; macaroni; summer 


squash. 

Fortyjive minutes. — Young turnips ; young:-beets ; 
young carrots; young parsnips; fine hominy; to- 
-matoes; baked potatoes; sweet potatoes, boiled; 
canned corn; onions; large sweet potatoes, baked. 

One hour. — Young cabbage ; string beans ; shelled 
beans ; winter squash ; oyster plant; spinach; cau- 
liflower. 

Two hours. — Winter cabbage; winter carrots; 
coarse hominy ; Bermuda onions. 

One hour to two hours. — Winter turnips; winter 
parsnips. : 

Old beets, forever. Which means all the time 
you have. 


MEATS, 
Ordinary Roasts. 


Beef, seven or eight pounds, one hour and a half ; 
ten pounds, two hours. Can then be roasted over 
second day. 


12 YUST HOW. 


Mutton, one hour and a half. 

Lamb, a little less, according to age and size, 

Veal, four hours. 

Pork, four hours. 

Turkey, two hours and a half to three hours. 

Goose, a large one, two hours. 

Chickens, one hour, to one and a half. 

Tame ducks, one hour. 

Game ducks, half an hour. 

Grouse, partridges, and the like, twenty-five min- 
utes. 

Pigeons, half an hour. 

Small birds, fifteen or twenty minutes. 

Eight pounds are an average weight for roasting 
pieces ; and I have made my table on that average. 
For rare meats, the allowance is about twelve min- 
utes to the pound; for meats that must be very 
much done, half an hour to the pound. 


Boiled Meats. 


Beef, 2 /a mode, four hours. 

Bouilli, four hours. 

Corned beef, four hours. 

Tongue, smoked or saltpetred, four hours. 

Tongue, corned, three hours. 

Mutton, leg, one hour and a half to one and three 
quarters. 

Veal, three hours. 

Ham, five hours. 

Corned pork, three hours. 


¥UST HOW. 13 


Turkey, ten pounds, three hours. 
Chickens, one hour to one and a half. 
Old fowls, two hours. 


EISh, 


Halibut, salmon, and other large, hard fish, boiled, 
ifteen minutes to a pound. 

Bass, blue-fish, etc., medium size, half to three 
quarters of an hour. 

Fresh cod, boiled, half an hour for four to five 
pounds, 

Halibut, salmon, ete,, baked, an hour for five or 
six pounds. 

Bass, blue-fish, shad, etc., baked, one hour. 

Trout, pickerel, lake white-fish, etc., baked, half 
an hour. 

These rules are as near as can be given in arbi- 
trary classification, and are intended to serve for 
allotment of time in preparing meals, so that it can 
be seen, on one page, what the general calculation 
must be for selections from the lists. Needful par- 
ticulars will appear in the proper places. 


MEASURES.! 
A tumbler, or ordinary coffee-cup full, is half a 
pint. 
A wineglassful is half a gill. 
1 Spoons, cups, tumblers, above all, “quart”? measures, vary ; 


therefore, verify your own measures by a sure standard, then you may 
use them instead of weights for after convenience. 


14 ¥FUST HOW. 


Eight tablespoonfuls of liquid measure a gill. 

A pint of granulated sugar is about a pound. 

Three half-pints of dry sifted flour are a pound. 

Four even saltspoonfuls make a teaspoonful, there- 
fore a half or quarter teaspoonful may be measured 
with a saltspoon. 

Four even teaspoonfuls make a tablespoonful. 

One very heaping teaspoonful makes a round 
tablespoonful. 

Eight round tablespoonfuls make half a pint. 

When a very little salt is needed, as in custard, 
sponge-cake, etc., a saltspoonful is good measure for 
an ordinary recipe. 

By a “scatter” of pepper, or other condiment, I 
mean so much as will just sprinkle, or freckle, in 
scattered grains, the surface of the matter cooking, 
as you would grate nutmeg over a pudding-sauce or 
upon a rennet custard, or pepper a dish of mashed 
vegetable before sending in. 

A teaspoonful of soda to a quart of flour. 

Two teaspoonfuls of cream-tartar to one of soda. 

One pint of sour milk to one teaspoonful of soda. 

A level teaspoonful of salt to a quart, for soups, 
and other fluid mixtures which require a decided 
salt seasoning. 

For mixed spices, — three heaping teaspoonfuls 
of cinnamon to one of clove and two of nutmeg, or 
one, heaping, of ground mace, make a nice propor- 
tion. For spiced cakes or puddings, a half, or even ~ 
teaspoonful of allspice may be added. 


¥UST HOW. 15 


When a “teaspoonful,” without qualification, is 
directed, a spoon just rounding full, but not at all 
heaped, is meant. 

By a “cupful,” the breakfast cup, or half-pint, is 
meant. 

A cupful of butter, dvoken, means measured in 
pieces, laid in as nearly compact as you can natur- 
ally place them. 

A cupful of butter, so/zd, means pressed down, 
and packed. 

A broken half-pint cupful weighs a scant half 
pound. 

A solid half-pint cupful weighs a full half pound. 


Our rules here lead us to the third, or finishing 
stage of things: to the beginning, that is, of the 
end; the “ flinging together,” which is the penulti- 
mate of adept and successful cookery. The recipes 
of this little book will give this, in instance and in 
particular ; but there is a general order which should 
be known, that all recipes may be understood and 
interpreted at sight. I close this section, therefore, 
with the 


ORDER AND METHODS OF MIXING. 


N. B. In mixing dough, or paste, a closely ap- 
proximate rule is to take one scant measure of liquid 
for two full ones of flour. 

For batter, measure for measure; still scant for the 


liquid, full for the flour. 


16 FUST HOW. 


The ordinary direction, to “add flour sufficient to 
make ” a dough or batter, is one of those exasperat- 
ing ones which presuppose a formed judgment and 
established practice which have little need of direc- 
tions at all, and which leave the novice in a blind 
hesitation over her work, or plunge her into a wild 
and terrified struggle with her materials, at the 
point where a sure, calm Presien is most neces- 

sary. 
FIRST METHOD. 
Where milk, sour or sweet, is the chief or only wetting 
material, 

Measure and sift the flour, and prepare it with 
salt and soda, or otherwise, as per special recipe. 
Add the milk gradually to it, pouring into the mid- 
dle, and stirring round and round, from middle out- 
ward, till all is smoothly mixed. This is for a batter. 
Then beat well. Do all guzckly, when soda is used. 

For a dough, — gather and mix, as you pour the 
milk, with a chopping-knife, till it coheres evenly. 
Then it is done; except in yeast bread, which is 
still to be Reet) 


SECOND METHOD. 
Where milk and eggs only are used with flour. 
Make a smooth batter, with milk and flour as 
above. 
Beat the yolks of eggs to thick foam. 
Beat the whites, to stand alone. 
Beat yolks and whites together. Then beat these 


GUST HOW. 17 


well into the batter. Or, add yolks first to batter, 
and whip in whites last of all. 


THIRD METHOD. 
Where milk, eggs, and a small quantity of butter are used; 
| milk being still the principal wetting. 

Cream the butter, as in Rule No. 6. 

Beat the eggs, as in preceding method. 

Drop the butter into the middle of the flour. 

Pour the milk, and stir to batter. 

Add the eggs to the batter, and beat well in. 

Always work quickly, though carefully, when 
there is soda in the flour. 


FOURTH METHOD. 


Where eggs, butter, sugar, and a moderate quantity of mtlk 
are used. 

Cream the butter. 

Beat a part of the sugar with the butter. 

Beat yolks and whites of eggs separately, — then 
together. 

Beat the rest of the sugar with the eggs. 

Drop the butter and sugar into the middle of the 
flour. 

Turn the eggs and sugar upon this, and begin to 
mix in the middle. As you stir, add the milk, beat- 
ing briskly, and keeping the ingredients well gath- 
ered together in the middle, until you gradually get 
all the flour in; then beat the whole quite even and 
light. 


2 


18 FUST HOW. 


FIFTH METHOD. 

Where sugar, butter, eggs, —in ordinary proportion, — and 

no milk are used, 

Cream the butter. | 

Beat part of the sugar with it. 

Beat yolks and whites of eggs, separately; then 
together. 

Beat remainder of sugar with the eggs. 

Drop sugar and butter to the flour. iu 

Pour eggs and sugar to both, beating up as you 
do so. 

SIXTH METHOD. 

Where there are eggs, butter, and sugar, in large number 
and measure, as in pound -cake, its derivatives and vari- 
elies. 

Beat butter to cream. Beat the flour, or as much 
of itas will not exceed a delicate batter, — with this, 
adding spice. | 

Beat yolks and whites of eggs separately, then 
together. 

Spill sugar to eggs, and beat well. 

Turn the two mixtures together, and beat thor- 
oughly. 

If there is a remainder of flour to be added, 
sprinkle it in lightly at the same time. 


THICKENING. 


To mix flour, or other material, for thickening 
milk, gravies, soups, etc.: Take the prescribed 


¥FUST HOW. 19 


quantity in a cup or bowl, and put the liquid to it a 
teaspoonful at a time, working it smooth in the mid- 
dle, and moistening by degrees till you get all the 
flour in, in a thick batter, or soft paste; then liquefy 
as may be desired, making it usually of the consist- 
ence of smooth cream. 


SECTION -IIl. 
RECIPES. 


PART I.—YEAST, BREAD, AND CAKES. 
YEAST. 


Make ready your two stone jugs; thoroughly 
cleansed from the last using as soon as empty, with 
scalding soapsuds well shaken in them, then a fresh 
scalding with pure water and a teaspoonful of am- 
monia or of sal soda, for each; then rinsed with cold 
water, and set in the open air.—A teacupful of 
your last yeast, still sweet and lively. Failing this, 
a yeast-cake, such as you buy in packages of the 
grocer, soaked in warm water and stirred smooth. — 
A teakettle of boiling water on your stove.— A 
teacupful of lightly broken hops, rounding full, in 
a three or four-quart kettle. —A large pitcher, or 
lip-bowl, a tin strainer, a large silver, wooden, o1 
nice tinned spoon. — A big mixing-bowl, with a pint 
of sifted flour and a tablespoonful of salt in it. 


20 YUST HOW. 


Pour two quarts of boiling water upon vers hops, 
and set the kettle on to boil.. : 

Boil fast, twenty minutes. 

Strain into your large pitcher. 

Begin at once to pour the hot tea, very slowly, 
into the middle of the flour. Stir, as you pour, 
round and round, neatly, in the middle, with the tip 
of your spoon at first; not tumbling the flour too 
fast into the liquid, to make a dough, nor letting the 
liquid swim the flour into lumps, but keeping a 
nice, smooth batter into which the whole is gradu- 
ally worked. 

Beat smartly, and return to your kettle, which has 
been rinsed. 

Stir over the fire until it boils, or sensibly thick- 
ens like starch. If it grows too stiff, like hasty- 
pudding, thin to a beatable batter with boiling water. 
The quality of the flour, and the boiling away of 
the hop tea in the making, will vary the result some- 
what in this respect. 

Pour back into. the bowl; let it cool; stir occa- 
sionally. 

When blood-warm, put in your cup of yeast. 
More than a cup, if it is left from your last, will be 
all the better. Ihave often put ina pint. Yeast 
is much nicer for rising quickly. 

Set in a warm place to rise; near the stove in 
cold. weather. 

It will be spongy-frothy in a few hours. Made in 
the morning, you can set bread with it at night. 


¥UST HOW. 21 


DOUGHS. 


Bread and cake stuffs are divided naturally, in the 
making, into three classes: doughs proper, soft or 
semi-doughs, and batters. 

You have already the general rule of proportion 
for flour and wetting in dough-mixtures : half meas- 
ure scant, of liquid, to full of flour. This is the es- 
pecial thing to have by heart, and bear in mind. 

A good dough should be pliable, — soft rather 
than hard. I am more afraid of toughness than of 
a slight over-wetting, and I always mix with a chop- 
ping-knife, which avoids the difficulty of stickiness, 
as experienced in hand-mixing, and facilitates the 
gathering of the dough, while preserving its light- 


ness. 
WHITE BREAD. 


Have ready: One quart of sifted flour, with a 
teaspoonful of salt, in your mixing-bowl. — Half a 
cupful of yeast. — One scant pint of water, blood- 
warm. — Moulding-board. — Flour in a fine hand- 
sifter. — Chopping-knife. 


Put the yeast into a hollow in the middle of the 
flour. ; 

Pour the warm water gradually upon yeast and 
flour. 

Mix, as you pour, with chopping-knife; turning, 
and cutting, and gathering, till it all comes clean 
into a tender dough. 

Dredge your moulding-board evenly with flour. 


22 ¥UST HOW. 


Put the dough upon it; heap it compactly with 
the knife ; dredge it with flour. 

Keep some flour dredged upon the corner of your — 
board, to lay your hands upon, so as just to dust the 
palms. Do this as often as you require, but never 
transfer any appreciable quantity of flour to your 
dough. Just keep your hands from sticking, and 
the dough from sticking to the board. 

Play with the dough at first, coaxing it. Pat it, 
roll it, pressing but very lightly, —hardly at all. 
Bring it toward you with your finger-tips, and roll 
‘it backward with the ball of hand and wrist, which 
will press upon the middle of the mass, and cause 
the portion next you to curl after your motion upon 
the board. 

Never break in, or get mired. Very frequent 
hand-dusting is better than getting sticky, and then 
flouring desperately. Be sure and only dust; shak- 
ing off all you can after you have touched your 
palms to the flour. Keep it in control in this re- 
spect, and work cautiously till the mass gathers 
coherence and elasticity; you will find you can 
press harder and roll more and more a baci as 
you proceed. Take it easily. 

About twenty minutes’ working will bring it to 
the most even, springy consistency. When you can 
do what you please with it, — toss it, punch it, roll 
it, without any sticking ; especially when you find 
you can drive your fore-finger down into it and 
bring it out clean, leaving a drill-hole, — your bread 
is manc, 


YUST HOW. 23 


Put it in your bowl; cover with a clean bread 
towel, and put a wooden cover over the top of the 
bowl. In cold weather, wrap a thick, folded woolen 
cloth over and around it all. 

Set near the stove in cold weather ; in warm, 
away from the fire. In the heat of summer, seek 
a cool place for it, with afresh air. Try your po- 
sitions and distances, prove the best places, and 
establish them. Every house and kitchen have 
their own. 

Mix bread at night for morning baking: in the 
forenoon, ot much before, as it rises fast in day 
heat, to bake at evening. 

An hour before you bake, turn the risen dough 
upon the moulding-board, and work over in the same 
manner that you did at first; kneading perhaps ten 
minutes, or until you find your dough in the lovely, 
docile state you brought it to before. Do it very 
lightly, however, and refrain from really adding any 
flour. 

See that your fire and oven are right, according 
to Rule 2, Section II. 

- Cut a piece from the dough, and roll it out with 
your hands ina rope-like length upon the board. 
From this cut little bits for your biscuits; turn 
them into rounds with the edges of your palms; put 
side by side in well-buttered tins, cover with a towel, 
and set near the fire, or above it on your kettle-cov- 
ers ; turn the tins round, if need be, to get the heat 
equally, and raise the biscuit all alike. 


24 YUST HOW. 


When they look high, puffy, and tender, put them 
in the oven. Allow twenty minutes to bake, though 
they will probably be done in less. 

_ Open the oven as little as possible, not before 
they have been in ten minutes. Turn tins if needed. 

I have given you only a recipe sufficient in quan- 
tity for breakfast biscuit: you can double or treble 
the measures, and bake loaves also. Make them 
from the remainder of your dough after the biscuits 
are prepared. Put into buttered loaf-pans, and leave 
on the table till the biscuits go into the oven, then 
set the loaves near the fire. Turn the pans as you 
did the others, and judge of the lightness of the 
loaves as you did of the biscuits. | They will prob- 
ably be ready for baking shortly after the biscuits 
come out. 

Leave an ordinary loaf in the oven fifteen minutes 
without opening. 

Half an hour, or more, according to size, will 
bake. 

Moderate-sized loaves are nicer than big ones. I 
like the “ brick-loaf”’ pans. 


SODA BISCUIT. 

Make ready: One quart of sifted flour, in your 
bowl, with a teaspoonful of salt and one of soda, 
well mixed in. — A dessert-spoonful, rather heaped, 
of butter, beaten to a cream in a small bowl. Rule 
6, Section II.—One scant pint, or a measured pint 
which you can refrain from wholly using, of nice 


GUST HOW. 2% 


sour, or smoothly loppered milk. — Chopping-knife ; 
flour-sifter, with a handful of flour in it, set in a dish 
or plate ; moulding-board, rolling-pin. — Two biscuit- 
pans, ready buttered. 

Put the creamed butter into the middle of the 
flour, ~- 

Pour the sour milk steadily upon it, gathering it 
into dough with the chopping-knife, as with yeast 
bread, and thoroughly turning, cutting, and mixing, 
so that the acid and alkali may work upon each 
other through the whole mass. It will look spongy 
in the cuts, and feel light, as the effervescence com- 
pletes itself. 

Do not persist in working it after it is light and 
even ; in fact, it isnot to be worked at all. It would 
make it tough. Manage to toss and chop it together 
completely, but quickly. 

Turn out the dough upon the board, which should 
be well sprinkled with flour, as this is soft dough ; 
pile it together, flour lightly, and just turn over once 
or twice with your hands to bring it into one body. 
Roll lightly, making it one inch thick. 

Cut out in rounds, with a small tin biscuit-cutter ; 
for delicate little tea-biscuit, with a wineglass, or a 
cutter of that size. 

Bake in a ‘“‘twelve”’ oven; Rule 2, Section IT. 


CREAM-TARTAR BISCUIT. 


Make ready: One quart of sifted flour and one 
teaspoonful of salt, as before. — Two teaspoonfuls of 


26 YUST HOW. 


cream-tartar, and one of soda, well rounded, and 
carefully alike. Mix these well, then mix them thor- 
oughly with the flour. — A round dessert-spoonful of 
butter, creamed. — Chopping-knife, moulding-board, 
pin, sifter, buttered pans. 

Put creamed butter into the middle of the flour, 
wet with a scant! pint of milk or cold water, handling 
precisely as in soda biscuits. 


BAKING-POWDER BISCUITS. 


The same: Except that instead of the soda and 
cream-tartar you take three heaping teaspoonfuls of 
the baking-powder. 


LIGHT SHORT-CAKE. 


Make ready: One quart of sifted flour, in chop- 
ping-bowl. — One teaspoonful of salt, thrown into 
the flour.— One teaspoonful of soda, if you intend 
to mix it with sour milk; or two teaspoonfuls of 
cream-tartar and one of soda mixed together, if you 
are to wet it with sweet milk or cold water; either is 
good.— A pint of milk, or of very cold water. — A 
quarter of a pound, or half a solid cupful, of butter. 
— The usual utensils for biscuit-making. — Three 
buttered sheet pans. 


Throw the soda, or soda and cream-tartar, into the 
flour with the salt, mix in nicely with a spoon. — 
Put in the butter, and chop it into the flour, so fine 


1 Whenever I say a “ pint,” — scant or full, —I mean an o/d-fash- 
zoned pint ; not a modern milk and wine measure. 


FUST HOW. 27 


that the whole will become like yellow meal, dry, 
powdery, and crisp. — Mix as in preceding recipes. 

Divide your dough into three parts: roll each 
part to an oblong shape, and three eighths to half 
an inch thick, fit into sheet pans, bake from fifteen 
to twenty minutes, in a “twelve” oven. If not 
then quite done and nicely browned, keep in longer, 
watching till done. 

These sheets are intended to be cut into strips, 

with a thin, sharp knife, split, and buttered hot. 
_ If you prefer round cakes, to place on the table 
whole, you can cut the dough, rolled to the thick- 
ness already directed, with a biscuit-cutter or a tum- 
as LIGHT PASTRY SHORT-CAKE. 

Made like the preceding, except that you use a 
cupful of broken butter to a quart of flour. 

Roll out as quickly as possible to the three eighths 
or one half inch thickness, cut in rounds, and bake 
‘ immediately. 


SPLIT-CAKE ; OR SPIDER-CAKE. 


Made like pastry short-cake, rolled in thin sheets, 
not more than three eighths of an inch thick. Fit- 
ted to Washington pie-plates, and baked in oven: 
or, 2 perfectzon, made in rounds and baked in well- 
buttered spiders or on a well-buttered griddle, over 
the fire. 

If baked over the fire, to be constantly watched 
and tended. 


28 GUST HOW. 


Keep a knife or griddle-spade in your hand, and 
raise the cake occasionally, to let the air in and keep 
from burning. 

When browned on under side, toss over quickly | 
with your spade, and brown on the other. 

Split; butter the rounds hot; place them one 
upon another ina pile, like toast; cut the pile in 
quarters, pie-fashion, and send to table. 

These are delicious. 


“ GAYWORTHY ” STRAWBERRY SHORT-CAKE. 


Make ready : One quart of flour. — One teaspoon- 
ful of salt. — One teaspoonful of soda, and two of 
cream-tartar, just rounded full, and mixed together. 
— One scant pint of pure cream.—One quart of 
strawberries. — Granulated sugar, to use in such 
proportion as may be found needful. — The usual 
biscuit utensils. — Three Washington pie-plates. 


Mix the salt, and soda and cream-tartar, thoroughly 
into the dry flour. 

Pour the cream into the middle of the flour, thus 
prepared, and turn to a delicate dough with your 
chopping-knife. 3 

Mould gently, a turn or two, with one hand, toss- 
ing over with the other. 

Divide the dough into three parts. 

Roll each piece out quickly, three eighths to half 
an inch thick, and fit to Washington pie-plate. Put 
at once into the oven. 


GUST HOW. 29 


While the cake is baking, prepare your strawber- 
ries in either of the two following ways : — 

I. Put them in a deep baking-dish : mash them 
with a wooden pestle: mix them with sugar to a 
pleasant sweetness: cover with an earthen plate, 
and set in the oven until the fruit is brought just to 
a scalding heat, — xo more, or longer. Set by till the 
cake is ready. 

2. Mash in a bowl, and mix with sugar, and leave 
cold till the cake is ready. 

I think this last way is the best. 


When the cakes are done turn out each one and 
lay upon its reversed baking-plate. Take a thin, 
sharp carving-knife, slip it between the cake and 
plate, to heat it to like temperature, split the cake 
evenly, slide it upon a china plate for serving, then 
turn back the upper crust upon the baking-plate. 

Butter each half lightly. 

Now lay one third of your jam evenly upon the 
under crust, dipping off with it the fair proportion of 
juice, and cover with the upper-crust. 

Sift a little sugar delicately over it, and it is ready 
for the table. 

Help in pie-pieces, with cream poured over. 


STRAWBERRY SHORT-CAKE. 
“ Worthy,” if not so “ gay.” 
Make ready : One quart of flour. — One teaspoon- 
ful of salt.— One round teaspoonful of soda, and 


30 ¥UST HOW. 


two of cream-tartar, mixed together. — One solid cup 
of butter.— One scant pint of sweet, unskimmed 
milk. — One quart of strawberries. — Granulated 
sugar. — The same utensils as before. 


Mix the salt, soda, and cream-tartar well into the 
flour. 

Chop the butter into the prepared flour, until it is 
fine and yellow like meal. Keep it cool, light, and sep- 
arate ; if it grows warm and clings in lumps, it will be 
heavy. If necessary, set it away ina cold place a little 
while when partly chopped, or after you have finished 
doing it. Only be sure that it is meal-like and crisp 
when you begin to mix it to dough. | 

Pour the milk into the middle of it, and work to 
dough with the chopper, as usual. 

Rolt out, bake, and prepare with strawberries, as in 
previous recipe. 


PLAIN RAISED DOUGHNUTS. 


Make ready : Three pints of flour.— One heaping 
teaspoonful of salt.— Two cups of fine brown sugar. 
—One teaspoonful of cinnamon, half a teaspoonful 
of powdered mace, or grated nutmeg, a small pinch 
of ground allspice, these all well mixed together. — 
Two cups and a half of sweet milk, a little warm. — 
Half a cup of yeast. 


Mix salt dry, into the sifted flour. 
Mix spices with the sugar. 


GUST HOW. 31 


Mix the spiced sugar with the flour. 

Put the yeast into the middle of the flour. 

Turn the wagm milk upon it and mix to a dough, 
as with bread, using the chopping-knife. 


N. B- Sugar helps to liquefy, therefore be cau- 
tious of spilling 2/7 your measure of milk into the 
dough. Perhaps the two cups will do. Bring it to 
a soft, tender, but true dough consistency, capable 
of being handled and moulded gently. 

Give it a few turns upon the board, like bread, 
but simply mould, do not work it hard. 

Let it rise over night, or five or six hours in the 
daytime. 

Mould it over, a few turns gently as before, and 
set it for a second raising, like a biscuit dough.. 


To fry, make ready: Two rolling-boards, a mid- 
dle-sized iron kettle, or large, deep frying-pan, a 
large sieve set over a pan as large, enough lard in 
the frying utensil to be three inches deep when 
melted. 

Heat the lard till it hisses when you drop a bit of 
dough in, and instantly boils around it. 

Keep it at this point, not allowing it to scorch. 
You must do this by keeping your fire steady and 
quiet, not on the increase ; it should be sufficient 
and well settled before you begin; also by slight 
shifting of the kettle if necessary. But do not let 
the fat get first furious and then cool. 


32 | UST HOW. 


Roll out and prepare your doughnuts, if possible, 
before beginning to fry. 

Roll the dough very lightly to a thickness of about 
half an inch. Cut strips of a lik®@ width, and di- 
vide in lengths of about six inches. Roll each one 
slightly with your fingers on the board, to round it ; 
then take it by the ends, allowing the middle still to 
touch the board ; twist it, put the ends together in 
your right thumb and finger, and with the left give 
the doubled middle a contrary twist, as in making a 
cord ; lay it off upon the large extra board sprinkled 
with flour. 

Continue until your board is full, or the dough all 
used. | 

You may, of course, cut your cakes in rounds, or 
in any shape you like instead of this; but nothing 
is so nice as the old-fashioned grandmother “twists.” 

Drop a comfortable few at a time in the hot lard, 
standing by with a fork. Keep them turning, to 
cook evenly ; as they come to a golden brown spear 
them gently with the fork, and drop them into the 
sieve set over the pan close by. 


RAISED DOUGHNUTS, WITH BUTTER AND EGGS. 


Make ready: One quart of flour. — One teaspoon- 
ful of salt. — Two cups of fine brown sugar. — One 
teaspoonful of cinnamon, half a teaspoonful of pow- 
dered mace, or grated nutmeg, a small pinch of 
ground allspice, all mixed together.— A piece of 
butter the full size of an egg, beaten to a cream. 


¥UST HOW. 33 


| — One large pint of sweet milk, slightly warm. — 
Half a cup of yeast, good measure, and strong. 


Mix flour, sugar, salt, spices, thoroughly together, 
as in preceding recipe. 

Drop the creamed butter into the middle of all. 

Pour-the yeast upon it, and then the warm milk, 
stirring gradually as you do so toa soft dough, but 
not to a datter. ‘That is, to a consistency which you 
can still stir, but not pour. If this does not take all 
your measure of milk, do not use it. Set to rise over 
night. 


The next day make ready: One pint of flour, with 
one even teaspoonful of soda mixed in. — Three 
eggs, the yolks beaten first to a thick froth, then the 
whites till they will stand alone, then both together. 


Stir up your soft, risen dough. 

Beat the eggs into it. 

Add lightly the flour and soda, and work quickly 
to a true dough with the chopping-knife. Use more 
flour or less, as it may work. The pint is safe to 
prepare. 

Let this dough rise until it is spongy-light, in a 
warm place, two hours or less. 


Fry, as in last recipe. 


re 


34 GUST HOW. 


SODA DOUGHNUTS. 


Make ready: Hot lard, in frying-kettle, as before 
directed ; let it be heating gradually on the back of 
the stove, while you make your dough. — One quart 
of flour, one teaspoonful of salt, and one of soda 
mixed in. — One large cup of fine brown sugar. — 
One teaspoonful of cinnamon, one half teaspoonful 
of ground mace or grated nutmeg, one ¢zzy pinch of 
allspice, all mixed together, and thén mixed with the 
flour.—One pint of sour milk, partly cream. If 
not, a round teaspoonful of butter, creamed, and 
dropped first into the middle of the prepared flour. 


Rolling-boards, frying-kettle, sieve, etc. 

Pour the milk—cautiously, it may not take all 
— into the middle of the prepared flour, and mix — 
briskly with a chopping-knife to a dough. 

Roll out at once, and fry. 


SODA DOUGHNUTS, WITH BUTTER AND EGGS. 


Make ready: Three cups flour. — One sma// tea- 
spoonful soda, and one of salt, mixed in, — One cup 
sugar. — One half teaspoonful cinnamon, same of 
ground mace, mixed together. One round table- 
spoonful butter.— Three eggs, whites and yolks 
separate. — One cup and a half sour milk. 


Have the lard in your kettle heating, while you 
wix, but do not let it get too hot. 


GUST HOW. 35 


Cream the butter, mix the spice into it. 

Beat yolks of eggs. 

Beat whites of eggs. 

Beat yolks and whites together. 

Sift sugar into the eggs, beating well. 

Put creamed butter into middle of flour. 

Turn eggs and sugar upon this, and begin to beat. 

Add ‘sour milk, and work to dough, as in other 
doughnuts, using the milk with the like judgment. 

Roll out and fry. 


PASTRY, FOR PIES. 


Before I give directions for the traditional “flaky 
pastry ” which every housekeeper thinks it her duty 
to know how to make, let me tell you of a better 
way than to make any at all. 

In the second recipe for strawberry short-cake, 
“worthy, i not gay,’ the ingredients and process 
for the short-cake are precisely right for as nice a 
pie-crust as any one need wish to taste. 

Bake it in rounds, in the same manner; split, and 
spread with any fruit or other filling that you have, 
and that can be spread, fit the top-crust on again 
nicely, sift sugar thinly over it, and set by to cool. 

You will have a delicate, elegant-looking pie, with 
light, tender crust that melts in the mouth; and it 
is far less trouble to make than the stereotype rolled- 
out, rolled-in paste; there is no soggy under-crust, 
to be left on plates and wasted ; all is delicious and 
wholesome. 








36 YUST HOW. 


With a little jelly or sauce, such as may be at 
hand, you can have, at very short notice, a couple 
of these pies ready for your table, dainty to look at 
and dainty to eat. 


A pie-crust made in the same way, omitting the 
soda and cream-tartar, allowing a rather heaping 
measure of butter, being careful to chop it very 
finely in and keep it very cool and light, and mix- 
ing with ice-water, — is rich and delicate, and if well 
baked, comes very near to the regular “ flaky ” crust 
in flakiness and is much more melting and crisp. 

This is a fine crust for apple-dumpling ; but even 
better is the “cream-crust’”’ prescribed for the real 
“Gayworthy short-cake.”’ 


PIE-CRUST, CRISP AND FLAKY. 


Make ready: One light quart of sifted flour. — 
One teaspoonful of salt mixed in. —One cupful 
solid butter, half as much more reserved in a flat 
dish. — Chopping-bowl ; knife ; fine flour-sifter with 
flour for sprinkling; rolling-board and pin. — One 
pint ice-water, or water ice-cold from the well, 
pumped when you are just ready for it, as will fol- 
low. — Whites of two eggs, in a small bowl; with 
broad fork. 


Put your cupful of butter into the flour, chop it 
in with the knife until it is fine, yellow, and crisp, 
like meal. 


FUST HOW. 37 


Be sure of the dryness and crispness; if in hot 
weather it begins to cling, set it away on ice until 
dry and hard again. 

After it is well chopped, put by in the cold, or on 
ice, while you cut your half cupful of butter in little 
bits with a small knife, in your flat dish; keeping 
the large pieces as you cut them well sprinkled and 
rolled in flour, and tossing the small bits aside to 
the other end of the dish as you reduce them to the 
size of white beans, each one so floured as to keep 
separate from the rest. Do not think this too 
“fussy ;” it is ever so much easier and simpler than 
the “rolling-in” process advised in all the regular . 
pastry recipes, and it makes a surer and better 
crust. I claim this as quite one of my “own ways.” 

When all is done, set this dish also in the cold. 

Beat the two whites of eggs to an upside-down 
froth. 

Bring your dishes of flour and butter from the 
ice, and have your pint of ice-cold water ready. 

Mix your floured bits of butter lightly into the 
bowl with your chopped butter and flour, toss the 
fine portion up from the bottom with the blade of 
a knife, letting the bits roll and mix evenly among 
it. 

Pour your ice-water gradually, yet quickly into the 
middle of it all, turning the dry part over to the wet 
with the chopper, and bringing it to the dough con- 
sistence. If it seems unnecessary, quite the whole 
of the pint of water may not be put in, but a soft 


38 JUST HOW. 


dough is much better than a dry one. Brisk and 
even mixing is the secret of getting it just right, 
without wet streaks. If you accidentally get the 
dough too soft, gather it into a light mass, sprin- 
kle it with flour, and set it in the air in a cool 
place awhile, it will swell somewhat, and absorb the 
moisture. 

Now sprinkle your board, finely, with flour ; take 
out upon it a careful guess at the quantity of dough 
for covering a plate or pie; gather it to as rounda 
pile as you can without any working, and sprinkle 
it finely with flour. 

Roll from you, forward, until you have it as long, 
or nearly so, as the diameter of the pie to be made ; 
then turn it at right angles, and roll from you again 
till you round it. You may run your strokes a little 
to right and left, fan-fashion, to keep, or form, the 
circle ; but never roll out and back again, over the 
same track. 

Manage with as few and effective strokes as may 
be to get your paste ready for covering. To this 
end is the importance of a soft, pliable dough, and 
a clever guess as to quantity. Have enough, so as 
not to be obliged to stretch it out, but leave as little 
for scraps as you can help; too large is better than 
too small, however. The dough made from a quart 
of flour will cut into covers for six pies of medium 
size, or upper and under-crusts each, for three. 

I prefer putting no edging of crust under my covy- 
ers, but making little finger-strips instead, of the 


FUST HOW. 39 


extra bits, to offer in addition, with the pie, at table. 
To have a handsome dish of these, make only two 
pies with your quart of flour; or, perhaps, two pies 
and a “ turn-over.” 

_ To insure well baked, palatable under-crusts, fit 
two rounds of paste to a Washington pie-plate, and 
put one over the other, without filling ; bake, and 
then separate, and put your fruit between, as in 
strawberry short-cake. 

After the day of baking pastry needs reheating 
to make it nice. Set the pies in the oven long 
enough to melt the butter in the crust, and restore 
the first crispness and flakiness, then take out and 
allow to stand till cool, but not cold. A short time 
in the oven is sufficient. You do not wish, if the 
first baking has been successful, to drowz them any 
more. 

Sift sugar delicately over the tops of your pies 
before sending to table. 


SEMI-DOUGHS. 


Of this class are all breads which are spoon- 
mixed ; sponges, muffins, etc. The distinctive qual- 
ity of a half-dough is that while it will drxeak from 
the spoon or spread, it will not pour or run. 

To accomplish this condition, mix with a propor- 
tion of wetting detween that for a firm dough and 
for a batter ; which will be, as a general rule, a scant 
pint and a half of liquid to a quart of flour. 

Where Indian meal, scalded, is used, it can be 


TE ET 


ea 
a aaa 


40 . YOST HOW. 


scalded first to the desired consistency ; then the 
above rule of proportion can be applied to the re- 
mainder of the ingredients. : 

Always remember that you must moisten -your 
mixtures gradually, holding back your measure of 
liquid until you are sure that it will all be required. 
A perfectly fixed rule cannot be given for varying 
materials and qualities. 


BROWN BREAD. 


Make ready: One evex cup of Indian meal. — 
Two heaping cups of rye meal.— One teaspoonful of 
salt, and one of soda, mixed together with the sifted 
meal in a large bowl. — One cupful of molasses, in 
a quart measure, or small bowl, with spoon.—A 
large beating spoon. — Palette-knife, to scrape your 
mixture from the bowl. — A tin bread, or pudding- 
boiler, well buttered. 


Stir the meal, salt, and soda, dry, until thoroughly 
mingled. 

Pour one pint of hot water to the molasses and 
stir it up. | 

Pour the molasses and water into the middle of 
your meal, stirring to a smooth batter as in previ- 
ous directions ; beat all quickly and well for several 
minutes ; it should be of a consistence to stir easily, 
and break in pouring, but not torun. With some 
qualities of molasses, you may need to add from a 
spoonful or two to half a cup more of warm water, 
to make it right. 


FUST HOW. 4l 


Put into your tin boiler, cover tight, and put this 
into an iron kettle with boiling water in it. Cover 
the kettle also. 

Boil steadily three hours, looking from time to 
time to see if the water in the kettle is boiling 
away. Keep it replenished, always from boiling 
water. ‘ 

Take the bread-boiler out at the end of the three 
hours, and set it into the oven for about ten min- 
utes ; longer, if the oven is not quick. This is to 
dry the outside steam off, and form a tender crust. 

Put hot upon the table ; cut and help hot. 


GRAHAM BREAD. 


Make ready: Two heaping cups of “ Arlington 
meal,” or graham flour, unsifted, in bread-bowl. — 
One teaspoonful of salt. — One cup, round, but not 
heaped, of flour, sifted upon it.— Half a cup of 
yeast. — One scant cup of molasses, in a measure, 
with hot water to make a pint, stirred together as 
for brown bread. 


Mix the flour and meal together, thoroughly. 

Pour the yeast into the middle of the flour. 

Then pour the molasses and water upon it, beat- 
ing, as you pour, to a batter in the middle, and grad- 
ually taking all in to your batter-dough. 

If necessary, add a few spoonfuls, or half a cup 
of hot water. Bring it to a very soft spoon-dough. 

When all is mixed, give a few minutes’ vigorous 
stirring. 





42 FUST HOW. 


Set to rise in a warm place, over night, or from 
forenoon to evening. 

Beat up when risen, and let rise again a little 
while, as other yeast dough. : 

When about to bake, dissolve a scant teaspoon- 
ful of soda in a very little boiling water, and beat 
thoroughly in. | 

Bake in small round cake-tins, or muffin-rings, 
well buttered. A portion may be reserved, and 
baked as a loaf, in a small bread-pan. 


GRAHAM BREAD, OR BISCUITS, WITHOUT YEAST. 
Measured as the previous, with the addition of 
a round teaspoonful of soda, at once, instead of 
yeast. 
Put together like brown bread. 
Baked in round tins, or small loaf-pans, 


GRAHAM MUFFINS. 

The preceding biscuit-recipe is almost a muffin- 
mixture. The cakes are very tender and delicate 
But you may make the dough either stiffer, — for 
bread, —if you prefer, by scanting your measure of 
molasses and water in the mixing; or you may in- 
crease this measure of wetting, slightly, and beat 
the dough to a thick batter, and bake in rings, as 
true muffins, 

YEAST MUFFINS. 

Prepare as mixing bread ; except that you use the 

half-dough proportion of wetting; a scant pint and 


YUST HOW. a3 


a half of warm water and yeast altogether, to a quart 
of flour. 


Beat with a spoon, smartly. 

Let the sponge rise very light, then beat up thor- 
oughly again, and let rise a little while, as you do 
biscuits after the moulding. 

Stir well before putting into rings or pans. 

Bake about twenty minutes. 


CRUMPETS. 


The same, only mixed a little softer still, by add- 
ing warm water till the dough becomes a stiff bat- 
ter. 

Baked in large, thin cakes, dropped from the spoon 
upon a hot griddle or into a spider, like spider-cake. 

Turned, while baking, like the last, or like griddle- 
cakes. 

SODA MUFFINS. 

Prepare as for “soda biscuit,” except that you use 
a scant pint and a half of sour milk, instead of the 
pint. — Also, heap your teaspoon of soda, or meas- 
ure an even teaspoonful and a half. 

Beat two eggs, — or three, if you have plenty, — 
yolks and whites separately, then together. Do this 
when you have creamed the butter ready for mixing. 

Drop the butter into the flour; begin to stir in 
the milk; as the butter forms in the middle, turn in 
the eggs; go on pouring and stirring the milk 
quickly, and beat all into a thick, light batter. 





iit ch a ac 


44 YUST HOW. 


You may refrain from using quite all the measure 
of milk if your batter becomes soft enough to spread 
well. It should not be of a pouring thinness. 

See introductory paragraph to “ Griddle-cakes, 
Egg-batter,’ and compare recipes. - 

All muffins are but thinner semi-doughs, or thicker 
batters. Recipes under either head may be modi- 
fied accordingly, and the mixtures used as “muffins.” 
As, for instance, ‘“ Rice Griddle-cakes,” and “‘ Bread- 
crumb Griddle-cakes.” 


RYE-CAKES. 

Make ready: Two cups sifted rye meal. — Half a 
teaspoonful of salt, and the same of soda, good meas- 
ure, well mixed in. — One cup of sour milk. — Three 
eggs, broken into bowls, whites and yolks Sera reaty- 
— One dozen small cake-tins, buttered. 


Beat yolks of eggs to a pale, creamy froth. 

Beat whites of eggs to tip upside down. 

Beat yolks and whites together, and turn intoa 
hollow in the middle of the meal. 

Add the sour milk, beating vigorously, till all is 
mixed, and its lightness shows that effervescence 
has taken place. 

Bake in the buttered tins, two thirds filled. Quick 
oven; do not open for twenty minutes ; then watch 
cautiously till done. 

They may take three quarters of an hour. Rye 
needs thorough baking. 


FUST HOW. AS 


In stone cups the rule is an hour. 

The same may be made with sweet milk, using 
cream-tartar, one round teaspoonful, with the soda, 
in preparing the flour. Always mix soda and cream- 
tartar together, before mixing both into dry flour. 
Also, slightly warm the milk. 


RYE DROP-CAKES, OR MUFFINS. 


Make ready: Two heaping cups sifted rye meal. 
—An even teaspoonful of salt. — Two even tea- 
spoonfuls of cream-tartar, and one of soda, mixed 
together. — Two cups warm milk. — Three eggs, 
whites and yolks separate. — A piece of butter half 
as large as a large egg. — Three tablespoonfuls of 
sugar. 


Mix the salt and the soda and cream-tartar, into 
the meal. 

Beat the butter to a cream with a teaspoon. 

Beat yolks of eggs to thick froth. 

Beat whites to turn upside down. 

Beat yolks and whites together. 

Add the sugar to the eggs, and beat up. 

Drop the creamed butter into the middle of the 
meal, 

Turn the eggs and sugar upon it, and begin to stir. 

Add the milk as you stir, and bring to a thick bat- 
ter quickly and evenly. Leave out some of the milk 
if you find you may. 

Beat till effervescence is evident. This is shown 





46 UST HOW. 


by the thickening sound of the batter in beating, 
and by the foaming and breaking of bubbles in it. 
It ought to appear as soon as the materials are thor- 
oughly incorporated. 

Bake in the small cake-tins, filling from half to 
two thirds full. | 

Three quarters of an hour, or more. 

You may vary the two last recipes by substituting 
flour in each for one third of the measure of meal. 
The baking is perhaps a little surer when this is 
done. 

SPONGE CORN-CAKE. 

Make ready: One cup corn meal, and two of flour, 
sifted together. — One teaspoonful soda, and one of 
salt, mixed in. — Half a teacupful of broken butter, 
in small bowl. — One teacup sugar. — Three eggs, 
whites and yolks separate.— Two cups rich sour 
milk. The more creamy the better. — Three Wash- 
ington pie-plates, buttered. 


Cream the butter, very light. 

Beat yolks of eggs to a thick froth. 

Beat whites to a stand-alone. 

Beat yolks and whites together. 

Scatter sugar slowly into the eggs, beating all the 
while. 

Drop creamed butter into the middle of the flour 
and meal. 

Turn in eggs and sugar, and beat to batter in the 
middle. 


YUST HOW. 47 


As this mixes, add the sour milk, rapidly, keeping 
the batter soft and light. 

Gather all in quickly and beat hard, but not too 
long, till smooth and light. 

Fill the pie-plates nearly full. Bake fifteen min- 
utes without looking; then watch, and turn plates 
if needed. Will bake in half an hour or less. 

Slip out upon hot china plates. Drawa sharp 


knife through the delicate upper-crust only, and . 


break into halves, quarters, eighths. Send hot to 
table. 

The same mixture may be baked as “corn muf- 
fins,” in cake-tins, or rings ; or in hot gem-pans. 


HUCKLEBERRY-CAKE. 

Make ready: One quart sifted flour. — One tea- 
spoonful of salt, and one of soda, mixed in. — One 
pint and a half of berries, well picked over, washed, 
and dried again. — [wo cups sour milk, in bowl or 
measure. — Iwo cups sugar, in bowl or measure. — 
Two eggs, whites and yolks separate. — Half a tea- 
cup broken butter. — Two sheet pans, buttered. 


Cream the butter light. : 

Mix berries in the flour, seeing that every berry 
is rolled and coated with it, so as to be separate. 

Beat one cup of sugar into the butter, light. 

Beat yolks of eggs as usual. 

Beat whites of eggs, as usual. 

Beat yolks and whites together. 





48 ; FUST HOW. 


Spill the second cup of sugar very lightly and 
gradually into the eggs, beating all the while. 

Put butter and sugar into the middle of flour and 
berries. 

Turn the eggs and sugar upon this, stirring in 
usual manner. 

Add the sour milk as the batter thickens, beating 
fast, but with care not to mash the berries. Pass 
your spoon well uxzder the whole mass, around the 
bowl, then break up through the centre. 

Fill pans three fourths full; bake in a-“twelve” 
oven. Tend as other cakes, not opening oven for 
at least ten minutes. 


BATTERS. 


A true batter is of as thick a consistence as will 
allow of pouring. It must not dveak from the spoon, 
neither must it run like a mere liquid. 

A cream batter is of the consistence of rich, 
smooth cream. 

The proportion of liquid mixing is as before given 
in rule towards the close of section IJ.; measure for 
measure with the flour, scant for the liquid, full for 
the flour. 

For cream batter, full measure of liquid to meas- 
ure of flour. 

Keep back some of the liquid, if you can bring 
your batter to the right consistency without using 
quite all. Always mix with caution in this respect, 
as flour, etc., will vary in quality, and at different 
times. 


FUST HOW. 49 


The simplest batter, which I will give, therefore, 
as an elementary recipe, is that of the common, ex- 
cellent, 

COUNTRY GRIDDLE-CAKE. 

Make ready: One quart sifted flour.— One tea- 
spoonful of salt, mixed in.— One scant quart sour 
milk, smooth and fresh. If in large part cream, so 
much the better. — Two teaspoonfuls of soda. 

A clean griddle, gradually heated while you pre- 
pare your batter. A bit of salt pork on a fork, ina 
saucer. Or, if you prefer, a little lard or butter in 
a saucer, with a small knife and a bit of clean rag. 

_ The griddle should be hot enough when you be- 
gin to fry, for the fat to szzz/e when you put it on, 
and the batter to do the same. 

Pour your sour milk gradually into the middle of 
the flour with your left hand, stirring all the while 
with a spoon in your right. 

Keep the batter smooth, taking in the flour round 
and round, as you go on, until all is mixed. 

When smooth, still beat over and over with the 
spoon for some minutes until a lightness is percep- 
tible in the slow forming and breaking of large bub- 
bles. Of course, it will not be the lightness of 
beaten egg-batter, or of effervescence ; but there is 
a lightness which comes of mere thorough beating, 
which avails in all spoon-mixtures, even before, or 
without, the addition of the especial lightening in- 
gredients. 

Country housewives “toss up,” or “whew up” a 

4 





50 ¥UST HOW. 


batter ; and they do the tossing, I have noticed, de- 
fore they put in eggs or soda. 

When this lightness appears, which will be in a 
few minutes, — say five, if you wish to be quite nice 
and precise, — dissolve your soda with a very little 
hot water and toss that in, “ whewing” the whole 
vigorously. 

Now grease your griddle, by rubbing it all over 
lightly with the salt pork ; or, if you use lard or but- 
ter, by taking a wee bit on the tip of your small 
knife and dropping it on the middle, — then quickly 
spreading it about with the knife, and then passing 
the clean rag with a very light wipe over the sur- 
face. 

Beat the batter with a stroke or two: drop three 
or four separate spoonfuls, well apart, on the griddle. 
“Stand by,” as Captain Cuttle says, and turn your 
griddle to or from the heat as the baking indicates, 
giving the best of the fire to the cakes that begin 
slowest, and withdrawing the whole a little, or set- 
ting it farther on, as may be needed. 

The cakes will set, and bubbles will rise through 
them and make a kind of honeycomb as the under 
sides bake. When this appears, and before any 
dryness shows on the upper surface, slip your grid- 
dle-spade well under each cake as it is ready, and 
turn it quickly and neatly. 

Now you will see the whole middle of each one 
begin to swell up and round beautifully with the 
lightness of your batter. Let them remain about as 


GUST HOW. 51 


long as in baking the first side, or until a certain 
unmistakable doneness shows itself, and then slip off 
on a hot plate. Send only a few to table at a time. 
They should be eaten as nearly as possible “ off the 
griddle.” 

Never turn a griddle-cake twice. 


GRAHAM GRIDDLE-CAKES 


Made with two thirds Graham flour and one third 
wheat flour, and the addition to the batter of a large 
spoonful of molasses to make them brown well, are 
exceedingly nice. Mixed precisely in the same way 
as the last. 


CREAM-TARTAR GRIDDLE-CAKES. 


The same, except that instead of sour milk, you 
use sweet milk, slightly warmed, and prepare your 
flour with two teaspoonfuls of cream-tartar and one 
of soda, mixed in dry with the salt. 

You may also vary by creaming a tablespoonful 
of butter, very light, and putting it into the middle 
of the flour before you add the milk and beat up. 

Sour milk is the Jest for griddle-cakes, as the bat- 
ter must necessarily stand some time before the last 
is cooked ; and sour milk batter keeps its pemeess 
longest. 

BUCKWHEAT CAKES. 

Make ready: Two cups of flour, and two of buck- 
wheat meal, sifted together in a large bowl. — Half 
a cup of Indian meal, sifted, in smaller bow]. — Half 





52 YUST HOW. 


a cup of yeast.— Four cups, or one milk-quart, of 
warm water. — Some boiling water, in small pitcher. 


Pour boiling water, cautiously, upon the Indian 
meal, stirring smoothly, until it is scalded and 
“swelled” to a batter. 

Put this into the middle of your mixed flour and 
buckwheat, and with your measure of warm water, 
mix and beat in the usual manner from centre to 
circumference, till all is in, and all well mingled. 

Remember the definition and rule for datter, — 
page 48, and use your judgment in the wetting, 
which cannot be precisely prescribed on account of 
the scalding of the Indian meal. 

Now put in the half teacup of yeast, and beat all 
together for at least ten minutes. 

Set to rise in a warm place, covered over. 

A pitcher is a good thing for buckwheat batter to 
rise in, and to fry from. Cover with a thick cloth. 

If in a bowl, put over it a wooden lid, and a cloth, 
as in bread-making. 

Mix over night. 

In the morning beat your batter well and set 
near the fire for a second rising, as you do biscuit- 
dough. 

Prepare your griddle as before directed; dissolve 
a teaspoonful of soda in a little hot water, beat well 
into the batter, and bake as directed for “ country 
eriddle-cakes.”’ 

Do not begin to bake, or put in the soda, until 


UST HOW. 53 


everything else is ready for breakfast, or indeed, un- 
til breakfast is on the table. 


GRIDDLE-CAKES, EGG-BATTER. 


This is the first simple combination in cake 
cookery. 

I have given you already, “doughnuts,” “sponge 
corn-cake,” and ‘“ huckleberry-cake,” because they 
come properly under the earlier divisions of doughs 
and semi-doughs. But a simple griddle-cake mix- 
ture, where eggs are used, is the first step from the 
basis of a plain batter, in the whole order of waffles, 
muffins, etc., etc., which, in their turn, lead up to 
all the complications and varieties of cakes, fancy 
breads, puddings, and the like. 

Make ready : One full quart sifted flour. — One 
teaspoonful salt mixed in.— One scant quart of sour 
milk.— Three eggs, yolks and whites separate. — 
One heaping teaspoonful of soda. 

Or: Flour and salt as above. —Two full teaspoons 
of cream-tartar, mixed in. — One round tablespoon- 
ful of creamed butter, dropped into the middle. — 
One scant quart sweet milk. — Three eggs, yolks 
and whites separate. — One full teaspoon soda. 


Set the griddle on to heat. 

Beat the prepared flour to a batter with the milk, 
as in plain griddle-cakes. 

Beat yolks of eggs, then whites, then both to- 
gether. Beat all into the batter. 


54 GUST HOW. 


Dissolve the soda in a very little hot water, and 
beat in quickly. 
Bake as other griddle-cakes. 


A nice variation is to use half a cup of sifted In- 
dian meal, making up with flour to the quart. 

In either mixture, use milk with discretion ; less 
or more than measure, as the dry material proves to: 
require. 

WAFFLES. 

By the same recipe, — capable of the same varia- 
tions, —as the last; only, that in any case, you put 
in a round tablespoonful of creamed butter. 

Have a good, clear, steady fire; heat the waffle 
irons, butter them well, and fill them three quarters 
full. 

Try to finish baking on the first side before turn- 
ing, as with griddle-cakes. They will take only a 
little longer. After watching one or two fillings, 
you can guess very nearly how to time them. They 
should be evenly browned, and not scorched, 


If for any of these griddle-cakes, you have cream 
— sour or sweet — which you can appropriate to the 
mixing, use it by all means, instead of the milk; 
and omit any addition of butter. 


POPOVERS. 


Make ready: Three “ght cups sifted flour. — 
Three cups sweet milk.— Three eggs, yolks and 


UST HOW. 55 


whites separate. — One teaspoonful of salt. — 
Eighteen small stone cups, well buttered. 


Mix salt with flour, and beat up a simple batter, 
with flour and milk. 

Beat the yolks of eggs to thick froth. 

Beat whites, till they stand alone. 

Beat yolks into the batter. 

Beat the whites in, last. 

Put into the stone cups, half filling them, or a 
little more. 

Arrange them in your oven according to your 
knowledge of its way of baking, so that there will 
be little danger of any of them baking very much 
faster than the rest; then do not open the oven for 
half an hour. 

At the end of that time, seep in through the small- 
est possible crack ; if nothing is scorching, or threat- 
ening to, close again, leaving them as they are. It 
will be better to remove those that may be done 
first, when all are nearly so, than to run the risk of 
causing those partially baked to fall, by keeping the 
door open to shift. 

When finished, they will be high and firm, well 
popped over, and with a glossy even-brown crust. 
If there is a soft, pale dveak between the cup and 
the top of the crust, it will yield, and the cake set- 
tle, when removed. 

The person who taught me, told me to bake pop- 
ovérs one hour; but I do not find it needful, or 


Ki ¥UST HOW. 


often practicable, to keep them in so long. After 
half an hour, you must use your judgment. They 
may often take three quarters. But keep the oven as. 
tightly closed as possible. 


RICE CAKES. 


Make ready: One cup of rice, fresh boiled — or 
cold boiled, heated over in a steamer and separated 
lightly into grains with a fork, —in small bowl. — 
One cup of sifted flour, with sa// teaspoonful of 
salt, in a mixing-bowl. — One cup of lukewarm milk, 
just set by the fire, to make as warm as new milk, 
will be about right. — A second cup of the same, in 
reserve. — Three eggs, yolks and whites separate. 

A hot griddle. 


Beat a simple batter with the cup of flour and the 
cup of milk. 

Stir the rice to this, thinning as you do so with 
the second cup of milk, using only enough to keep 
the batter of the original flour-and-milk consistency. 

Beat the yolks of eggs as usual. 

Beat whites, as usual. 

Beat yolks to the batter. 

Beat whites to the batter, beating the whole well. 

Bake as other griddle-cakes. 


RAISED GRIDDLE-CAKES. 


To be mixed over night for breakfast, or early in 
in the forenoon for tea, 


GUST HOW. 57 


Make ready: One quart flour, one teaspoonful 
salt.— One quart, less one gill, of warm milk. — 
Half a cup of yeast. — One pe root ul creamed 
butter. 


Mix your simple batter, putting the creamed but- 
ter first into the middle of the flour. 

Add the yeast and beat well. 

Set to rise, like buckwheat cakes. 

When ready to bake, beat the yolks of three eggs, 
then the whites ; beat first the yolks, then the whites 
to the batter. 

Dissolve a small teaspoonful of soda in a little hot 
water, and beat in at the last moment. 

Have your griddle hot, and bake as usual. 


RAISED WAFFLES. 
In like manner, baked in waffle-irons. 


BREAD-CRUMB GRIDDLE-CAKES. 


Make ready: Bread-pieces, broken up fine and 
light, in enough milk to make a batter when soft 
and stirred. — Four eggs to a quart of the mixture, 
yolks and whites separate. — One teacupful of 
sugar. — One teaspoonful of salt.— A saltspoonful 
of nutmeg, if you like. 


Rub the soaked bread through a vegetable-sifter. 

Stir in the sugar and salt, and beat well. 

Beat the yolks of eggs, then the whites, then both 
together. 


58 GUST HOW. 


Put the eggs into the mixture, and beat light. 
Bake on a hot griddle. 


GRUELS, ETC. 


After “batters,” comes naturally that class of 
mixtures which may be characterized as batters in a 
still more attenuated form: gruels, porridges ; milk, 
cream, and water thickenings of various kinds. 

An approximate rule is needed for, the propor- 
tions of flour, meal, etc., to liquids, in the mixing ; 
also a knowledge of the handling, — essentially the 
same, —in making an exact and delicate prepara- 
tion of either kind. 

This elementary rule and knowledge come in 
requisition constantly, in the various compound 
processes of cookery. Soups, fricassees, meat gra- 
vies, sauces, puddings, include, quite generally, some- 
thing of this sort in their initial combinations ; to 
say nothing of the especial and most important de- 
partment of invalid food. 

An invariable rule, to apply to all these different 
things, is, of course, impossible; but a familiarity 
with the simple forms first mentioned will give the 
experience and judgment which come in play in 
using the same as parts of more complex opera- 
tions. 

The following measures are exact enough for all 
practical purposes. 

For gruel thickness: Use two even atte anos vals 
or two heaping teaspoonfuls, of flour or meal to a 


GUST HOW. 59 


pint of water. — Use one even tablespoonful, or one 
heaping teaspoonful, to a pint of milk. 

For porridge thickness: use one heaping table- 
spoonful of flour or meal to a pint of milk. — Of 
arrowroot, one round teaspoonful to a half pint. — 
Of cornstarch, scant the prescribed measure for 
flour, or Zeap that for arrowroot. 


You perceive that I give the same measures for 
flour and for meal. It might appear that it would 
require less of the latter. But the difference is, 
that meal, although it swe//s at first, and absorbs 
more water or other liquid, does not properly 
thicken, not having the starchy quality of flour. It 
must cook a long time; whereas flour acts as a 
thickening immediately, without any reducing. 
Meal must boil down. Flour only just needs to 
boil 2. 

INDIAN MEAL GRUEL. 

Boil a pint of water ina saucepan. Put half a 
teaspoonful of salt into it. 

Mix two even tablespoonfuls of finely sifted meal 
with enough cold water to smooth and thinit. Stir 
this nicely to the boiling water. 

Boil it gently, stirring carefully, half an hour. 

Add a tablespoonful, — or two if liked, — of 
cream, boil up, and pour into a bowl. 


THICKENED MILK. 


Boil a pint of milk in an inner boiler. Put in 
half a teaspoonful of salt. 


60 YUST HOW. 


Mix a heaping tablespoonful of finely sifted In- 
dian meal with cold milk enough to wet it thor- 
oughly and smoothly. Stir this into the boiling 
milk. Boil and stir fifteen minutes: 


MILK PORRIDGE. 
Made with flour, instead of meal, in the same way 
and proportion as the last, except that it only re- 
quires a few minutes boiling ; perhaps five. 


' ARROWROOT. 

Wet one round teaspoonful of arrowroot with a 
little cold water to a thin smoothness. Turn a cup- 
ful of boiling water upon it, stirring it as you do 
so. It will thicken, and turn blue, like starch. 
Then set it on the fire, add a tablespoonful or two 
of cream, and boil three or four minutes. 

You may make it richer by mixing a larger pro- 
portion of cream with water, boiling it together be- 
forehand, and pouring it to the wet arrowroot, then 
boiling again for three or four minutes, as before. 

Or, you may boil your measure of pure milk, wet 
the arrowroot, pour the milk to it, and boil up. 

Always pour the hot liquid to the arrowroot off 
the firein this way ; as arrowroot thickens so rapidly 
that it is apt to gather into lumps which are diffi- 
cult to smooth again, if stirred into boiling liquid 
over the fire. 

Thickenings, for preparations of milk, for sauces, 
soups, etc., are given under those respective heads. 


YUST HOW. 61 


WAYS TO USE BREAD.— TOASTS, BREWIS, ETC. 


BUTTERED TOAST. \ 


Make ready: A hot, clear, even fire. —A clean 
wire toaster. — Bread cut in smooth, even slices, 
quarter of an inch thick. 


It is better to toast only one slice at a time. If 
your fire is good you can toast quickly, and that is 
what you should do. | 

Hold at just such distance above the fire as you 
find will brown it readily, without scorching. Turn 
often. At the first toasting smoke, or steam from 
the bread, which is not a burning smoke at all, raise 
and see where the browning begins ; the ex? thing, 
if not raised, will be a burn. Hold each part of 
the slice, in turn, to the central heat, and watch 
the browning. Tint it all over with these skillful 
touches, lifting and turning neatly and rapidly. It 
takes longer to tell than to do. The whole surface 
of each side should be just golden brown. 

Butter each slice as you take from the fire; or if 
you have a second person to help you, which is the 
perfect way, let her doit. Butter as evenly as you 
have toasted, spreading quite to the edges of the 
crust, but leaving no smudges and lumps to melt in 
the middle. 

Send to table a few slices at a time, freshly done, 
or if this is not convenient, pile the toast as finished 


62 FUST HOW. 


on a hot plate with a deep cover over it, and keep 
in the open mouth of the oven till all is ready. — 


WATER TOAST. 


Make ready: Fire and bread as before. — A clean 
spider half full of boiling water. — Put in a couple 
of tablespoonfuls of butter, and a teaspoonful of salt. 


Toast your bread. Dip each slice, as toasted, turn 
it, let the water just strike through, and take it out 
upon the hot toast dish. 

Keep the dish on the stove hearth, or over a drum 
or hot-water kettle at the back. 

Skim a little of the butter from the top of the 
water upon each slice as you lay it in the dish, 
spreading it evenly. 

As the water uses and boils away, put in more. 
Keep it salted accordingly, and add butter if you 
find you are skimming off all the first supply. 

Allow the water to use away toward the end of 
your work, so that what is left will be a little thick- 
ened by the dipping of the bread, and will hold the 
butter mixed. This remainder is just right to pour 
over the pile of toast before serving. You will not 
need much, but it must be good, not washy. 


CREAM TOAST. 
Make ready: A pan on the fire, with boiling 
water and salt, as for water toast, but without the 
butter. — Half a dozen slices of bread, as before. — 


FUST HOW. 7 63 


Two teaspoonfuls of butter, well creamed. — Two 
cups of cream, scalded in a little saucepan or inner 
boiler. — A saltspoonful of salt in this. | Z 


Dip scalded cream, by teaspoonfuls, to the beaten 
butter, till smoothly mixed, then add the whole to 
cream in saucepan, stirring carefully. Cover, and 
keep hot, but not where it can boil. Stir occasion- 
ally, to prevent skim from forming, or butter rising 
oily to the top. 

Toast your bread, as before. 

As each slice is taken from the toaster, drop it 
into the hot salted water, as for water toast, but 
take it immediately out again, as soon as simply 
softened, not soaked. 

Lay it into the hot toast dish, and pour two or 
three spoonfuls of the cream and butter evenly over 
it. Keep a surplus to pour over all, when finished. 


MILK DIPPED TOAST. 


Make ready: Fire, and sliced bread, say a dozen 
slices, as before. — One quart of milk, scalded in an 
inner boiler.— Three round teaspoonfuls of flour, 
or two, very heaping, of corn-starch, mixed with cold 
milk put to it by the teaspoonful,. till smooth and 
thin. — One teacupful of broken butter. — One 
round teaspoonful of salt. — A clean spider. 


Set the. spider on the fire. Pour the scalded milk 
into it as it, the spider, becomes hot. Let it come. 
ta a boil. e 


64 SUST HOW. 


Stir in the flour-thickening. Pour it into the mid- 
dle, stirring it round steadily and smoothly, till all 
is thickened. Be sure the milk is boiling when you 
add the thickening, and that it boils up, cooking the 
flour, before you leave off stirring. 

Now put in your butter, stirring smoothly again 
till it is melted and united, without oiliness, to the 
thickened milk. Add the salt. 

Let all your stirring be done gently, and wzder- 
neath, in spreading circles from the middle, holding 
your spoon horizontally, with the back of its bowl 
slightly touching the bottom of the spider. 

Set the spider on the back of the stove, or the 
top of a hot kettle, while you toast your bread. 

Dip each slice of toast, as ready, turn and soak it, 
then pile in toast dish. 

Pour the remainder of the dressing over the 
whole. ‘ 

I prefer to keep the toast-slices in the “ dip,” over 
the fire, as long as may be without their breaking to 
pieces. If they get a bit of a doz/, it is no harm. 
Slide each piece under the preceding ones, until you 
have as many in the spider as you can manage, then 
lay them in the dish for table. A griddle-spade is 
nice to take them up with when they are very 
tender. 7 


SPLIT-CAKE TOAST. 


Make a split-cake, as per recipe, page 27. You 
may use it fresh-baked, or you may heat: a cold one 


GUST HOW. 65 


in the oven, and put it, in hot slices, into a “dip” 
made thus: One quart of mixed milk and cream; 
half cream, if possible. — One teaspoonful of salt. — 
Two round teaspoonfuls of flour, corn-starch, or ar- 
rowroot, wet smoothly with a little cold milk or 
cream. — One round teaspoonful of solid butter for 
every half-pint of mere mz/% used in the dip. 


Boil and thicken as in preceding recipe. 
Boil the slices of cake a minute or two in the dip, 
when ready. 


WHITE BREAD BREWIS. 


Make ready: Remainders of bread, broken nicely 
into very small bits. — A quart of milk, scalded in 
an inner boiler, then turned into a hot spider or 
saucepan to boil. — A teaspoonful of salt. — A round 
cupful of broken butter. 


Put the salt into the hot milk. 

As it boils, stir in the broken bread. 

As it boils, stir in the butter. 

Keep well stirred. 

Serve hot. 

Use only so much bread, putting it in gradually, 
as absorbs the milk to a soft, porridge-like consis- 
tency. 

BROWN BREAD BREWIS. 

Make ready: Brown bread, bits and crusts, nicely 

broken, and browned in the oven in biscuit-pans. 
5 


Ma 


66 YUST HOW. 


A rich milk and butter dressing, as in “ milk 
dipped toast.” 

Put the hot, browned bread-pieces into the “dip” 
as soon as it is prepared, and still boiling. 

Stir carefully, and simmer a good while, until all 
is mixed and soft. 

Have plenty of “dip” in proportion to your bread, 
as it takes up a great deal. 

It is very delicious. 


COLD BISCUITS —TO WARM OVER. 


Wrap in a towel and put in a steamer. Steam 
ten or fifteen minutes, and then put in well-buttered 
biscuit-pans. Butter the top crusts and set in the 
oven till the crusts are crisp again. Watch, and 
take out when just right. 


_ Another way. — Break open the biscuits, butter 
them inside, put together again and butter the top 
crusts. Place in buttered pans, and heat in the 


oven. 
CRISPED CRACKERS, 


Split and butter soft, or “butter” crackers. Lay 
the buttered halves in tin plates and set in a quick 
oven to brown. | 

Delicious for luncheon or tea, or even dessert, 
with coffee and fruit. 

Also, to serve with soup. 


SOUR BREAD. 
If you happen to have ight bread which is a little 


JUST HOW. 67 
soured, make “water toast,” “brewis,” or “bread 
griddle-cakes” of it, putting a small teaspoonful of 


soda to a quart of the water, milk, or batter-mixture, 
in the preparation. 


SECTION III. 


RECIPES. 


PART II. — CAKE. 


All mixtures of cake proper are either batters or 
semi-doughs. 
__ The simplest form of cake cookery, and that 
therefore with which I begin, is 


SPONGE-CAKE. 


_ Make ready: One pound of purest fixe granulated 
sugar. — One scant half pound sifted flour. (Sugar 
and flour put into separate earthen baking dishes, 
and set in open oven, or before the fire, until quite 
hot and dry. Then cool before using. Stir occa- 
sionally while heating.) — Ten eggs, whites and 
yolks in separate bowls. The whites in your large 
mixing-bowl. (In cold weather, observe Rule 4, Sec- 
tion II., as to putting them in warm water before 
breaking. — Note carefully directions under same 
rule for beating eggs.) — Grated rind of two lemons. 
— Juice of one anda half lemon (or of one only if 
large and juicy) strained into a cup. — Half a tea- 
spoonful of salt.— Three brick-loaf pans, or two 


68 «GUST HOW. 


large loaf-pans (of sheet iron, if possible) well-but- 
tered. 


Have your dried flour and sugar cooling, and your 
oven closed and ie ready for a “counting 
twelve” heat. 

Beat the yolks of eggs to a pale, thick, creamy © 
froth. 

Beat the whites to a stiffness that will turn upside 
down and not spill. 

Turn the yolks to the whites in big bowl, and 
beat together.. Use your palette-knife to scrape the 
yolks clean from their bowl. 

Now drop in your sugar, in a steady, sifting 
stream, from a dish in your left hand, while you 
beat on with your right. 

Sift in the flour in like manner, beating all the 
time. Refrain from using all the flour, if you find 
you can do so, You may leave out two tablespoon- 
fuls from your weighed quantity, to be added only if- 
found necessary. Flour and eggs vary, in body and 
contents, and cause variation in result. Sponge-cake 
mixture Should have the consistency of slightly stiff- 
ened spongy froth, such as Charlotte-russe filling. It 
should drop and spread easily, yet not run in liquid 
fashion. The exact nicety of this point must be 
left to experiment, and the judgment formed there- 
on. 

Remember that too slow, laborious beating, in 
putting together, after all the separate ingredients - 


FUST HOW. ; 69 


are properly prepared, will make the cake too close- 
grained, and consequently inclined to toughness. It 
should be whisked together as quickly as consistent 
with a perfectly “ghz handling. The sugar and flour 
must not be dumped in; still, do not linger over it. 
Of the two, it is better to fling the things together 
than to keep them stirring a great while. 

Stir in the lemon rind and juice quickly, as soon as 
the last of the flour is in; then the salt, with a thor- 
ough whisk. Fill your pans quickly, two thirds full, 
scatter a little sugar over the tops to form a crisp 
crust in baking, and get them into the oven at once. 

If your oven is quick to scorch on the bottom, in- 

vert two Washington pie-plates, and set the pans on 
these. This will hardly be necessary, however, with 
tron pans. Keep some sheets of pasteboard, — old 
paper boxes furnish very good ones, —to lay over 
the tops of the pans when the cake begins to brown. 
Lay them on the grated shelf of the oven above 
the pans, rather than on the pans themselves, which 
would hindér the cake in rising, and injure the crust 
by sticking to it. 
_ Remember suggestion in Section IL, for putting 
a dish of cold water on the oven-grating over arti- 
cles baking, if by accident the heat becomes greater 
than you can manage them in. 

Do not open the oven at all for at least ten min- 
utes after putting cake in: when you do, peep in 
through the merest possible crack. If necessary to 
turn or shift the pans, do it as dexterously and 


Jo UST HOW. 


quickly as possible ; but with careful protection, as 
above directed, this should not be needful until the 
loaves are nearly done, and not in danger of * fall- 
ing,” from the door being open a few seconds. 

When done, the loaves will show a little shrink- 
age at the edges, from the sides of the pans; and a 
broom-straw run through the middle of them will 
come out dry. } 

Turn out upon a sieve, or if you have to turn them 
upon the table, invert quickly the hot pans from 
which you remove them, and put the cake right side 
up, on these. 


ONE, TWO, THREE, FOUR CAKE. 


So called, from the old recipe running, —“ One 
cup of butter, two cups of sugar, three cups of flour, 
and four eggs.” Except as a mixture for a very 
delicate kind of cookies, — which see, in “ Cookie” 
and “Hard Gingerbread” recipes,—this cake does 
not, and cannot, abide by its name. Unless, indeed, 
the measures are made with a small ¢eacup instead 
of the half-pint breakfast cup which is understood 
in all the measures given in this book. 

The one, two, and four, however, of the butter, 
sugar, and eggs, form the basis of proportion in 
most cake mixtures where these ingredients are all 
used. You will find that with these precise meas- 
ures and the three cups of flour, a cupful of other 
wetting is required and prescribed; when more eggs 
are used, less additional moistening; and by the 


GUST HOW. 71 


‘time you reach a proportion of twice as many eggs, 
no liquid is needed or given for the sake of snipe 

I will give three ways of making : — 

I. Make ready: Two half-pint cups, or three tea- 
cups, of dried and sifted flour.— One teaspoonful 
cream-tartar and half a teaspoonful soda, both scant, 
mixed together, and mixed into the flour.— Two 
round saltspoonfuls of salt, also.mixed in.— One 
cup butter, solid. — Two rounded cups sugar. — 
Four eggs, yolks and whites separate. — Two tea- 
spoonfuls mixed spice. See “ Measures,” Section II. 
— Two dozen small round cake-tins, buttered, and 
set in biscuit-pans. 


Cream the butter. 

Beat half the sugar into it. 

Beat yolks of eggs to spongy foam. 

Beat whites to a stand-alone. 

Beat both together. 

Beat the other half of the sugar into the eggs. 

‘Drop butter and sugar into the flour. 

Put eggs and sugar to it, and stir till all is mixed. 
Beat well, but not longer than serves to thoroughly 
and lightly unite the materials. 

Fill the small tins a little more than half, and put 
immediately into the oven. Bake about fifteen 
minutes. | 


II. Make ready: One cup butter.— Two cups 
sugar, dried.— Three cups flour, dried. Half a tea- 


72 FUST HOW. 


spoonful soda, mixed in.— One cup sour milk, or 
cream. — Two round teaspoonfuls mixed spice. 


Cream the butter, and beat half the sugar in, with 
spice added. . 

Eges as before, and half the sugar beaten in. 

Butter and sugar dropped into flour. 

Eggs and sugar added, stirring. 

As it thickens, pour in the sour milk, and beat all 
guickly to evenness and lightness. 

Bake as before. : 

You may use — and it is very nice — light brown 
Havana sugar for this, or any variety of similar cake. 
If you do, you need not dry the sugar, but beat it 
well with the butter and the eggs, respectively, in 
the manner directed above; making the portion with 
the butter very creamy, light, and white. 

Yellow ginger used instead of other spices, turns 
this into very nice soft-cake gingerbread. 


III. Made like No. II., except that you put an 
even teaspoonful of cream-tartar and half a tea- 
spoonful of soda, mixed, into the flour, and substi- 
tute a cup of sweet milk for that of sour. 


LEMON QUEEN-CAKE, 


Make ready: One pound of fize granulated sugar. 
-— Half a pound of flour. — Half a pound of butter. 
— Eight eggs, whites and yolks separate. — Two 
lemons, rind grated and juice strained. —A small 


YUST HOW. 73 


half teaspoonful of soda, and one of salt. — Two 
dozen cake-tins, buttered. 


Mix salt and soda with flour. 

Beat butter to a light cream. Add lemon rind. 
Beat half the sugar to it. 

Beat yolks of eggs, then whites, then both to- 
gether. . : 

Spill sugar to the eggs, and beat well. 

Put butter and sugar into the middle of flour, and 
begin to stir. | 

Turn eggs and sugar in as it begins to mix, and 
beat on, gathering in the flour steadily and quickly. 

Put in lemon-juice last, beating through and 
through with the uzzderstroke, till the bubbles swell 
up and break. 

Fill tins and bake, as with one, two, three, four 
cake. 

QUEEN GINGERBREAD. 


Same recipe, except that you use, in addition, 
yellow ginger; one even tablespoonful, mixed with 
the lemon rind, to the creamed butter. 

Orange may be used instead of lemon. 

Orange peel, dried, pounded, and sifted, is very 
nice instead of fresh peel. Use a teaspoonful where 
you would grate one fresh orange. 


QUEEN SPICE-CAKE. 


Same recipe, only using a round tablespoonful 
of mixed spice instead of ginger. 


74. . SUST HOW. 


N. B.. These last three recipes are simply an 
exemplification of the fact that many recipes with 
distinctive names may be multiplied from one iden- 
tical basis of preparation. If you analyze the cook- 
ery books, you will find that whole pages of variety 
are only slight changes rung upon one original com- 
position. You may follow these, or invent for your- 
self, ad libttum, only keeping clearly in mind the 
class-proportions of staple material, and the proved 
best method of mixing. | 


RICH SPICED GINGERBREAD, 


Make ready : One cup of butter, solid. — One cup 
of brown sugar, sifted. — One cup of molasses. — 
Four cups of flour.— One teaspoonful of salt. — 
Four eggs. —One cup of sour milk, as creamy as 
possible. — Two teaspoonfuls of soda. 

For spice: One teaspoonful of clove. — One tea- 
spoonful of yellow ginger. — Half a teaspoonful of 
cinnamon. — One tablespoonful, heaped, of grated’ 
orange peel, or one heaped teaspoonful of dried and 
pounded peel. — These all mixed together. 

Small square cake-tins, or thin sheet pans, ready 
buttered. 


Mix the salt and soda with the flour. ! 

Cream the butter. Beat the sugar to it, very 
light and white. 
_ Mix the molasses and sour milk together. 

Beat the yolks of eggs, then the whites, then 
both together. 


JUST HOW. 75 


Drop the butter and sugar into the flour. 

Turn in the beaten eggs, and begin to mix in the 
middle. 

_ At the same time, pour in the milk and molasses, 

and stir quickly and evenly, till all is beaten to- 
gether. As soon as this is accomplished, and the 
effervescence is apparent, put into your tins, and 
into the oven. 


OLD-FASHIONED POUND-CAKE. 


Make ready: One pound of dried and sifted 
flour.— One pound of fine granulated sugar, dried. 
— One pound of the very nicest butter, in a middle- 
sized bowl.— Ten eggs, yolks and whites separate, 
in bowls for beating. — One wineglass of brandy. 
— One teaspoonful of powdered mace, or one and 


a half of nutmeg. — One saltspoonful of salt. — 
Large mixing bowl. — Two sheet-iron loaf-pans, 
buttered. 


Cream the butter, adding spice, in the large 
bowl. 

Beat the yolks of eggs to a thick froth. 

Beat the whites to perfect stiffness. 

Beat yolks and whites together. 

Spill the sugar to the eggs, beating well. 

1 Brandy and spice may be omitted, or any spicing you fancy sub- 
stituted ; but this is the old-fashioned recipe, and for cake intended 
to be eft long, the brandy is needful. I do not advise the use of 


such things freely and commonly, and would hint that the /ady should 
always keep the management of them to herself. 


76 ¥UST HOW. 


Put a small part of the flour to the butter, and 
stir and beat to a light batter as expeditiously as 
possible, adding the brandy as you do so. 

Turn the eggs and sugar in, beat lightly, then 
add the rest of the flour, and beat all well. 

N.B. This way of mixing is not old-fashioned, 
though the recipe is. The advantage is that the 
curdling, which takes place when the butter and 
sugar are first beaten together, and then the eggs 
beaten and added to them, is avoided, and the 
smooth lightness, which is made a special point of 
in all the processes of this little book, is preserved 
from the beginning. 

Fill pans two thirds full, and watch as sponge-cake. 

Pound ‘cake mixture is the prime form of all more 
solid, rich cakes, — suchas fruit and wedding-cakes. 
If you can put this together well, you can make any 
varied or elaborated compound,-by such recipe as 
you fancy. 

Always mix spices beforehand, so as to adi them 
at one beating. 

Currants or citron may be added to plain pound- 
cake. A cupful of the former, washed, dried, and 
dredged with flour; or an equal measure of the 
latter, in slips, also” lightly Be Either stirred 
in at the last beating. 

Prepare all fruits —raisins, currants, citron — 
beforehand. Dredge each kind lightly and evenly 
with flour, so that each bit or berry shall be just 


GUST HOW. 77 


coated, and lie separate. Then mix the kinds to- 
gether. 

You may take the flour for the dredging from 
your measure for the cake; only remembering to 
have full measure. 


ORANGE, OR GOLD-CAKE,. 


Make ready: One pound, or two half-pint cups, 
of fine granulated sugar, dried. — A little more than 
half a pound, or one round, solid cup, of butter. — 
Two and a half cups of dried and sifted flour. — 
Yolks of twelve eggs. — Grated rind of two oranges ; 
juice of one, and of one lemon. — One teaspoonful 
of soda, mixed with the flour. 


Cream the butter, put a little more than half the © 
sugar to it, sprinkle in the orange rind, and beat 
~ light. 

Beat the yolks of eggs to thick foam, then add 
the remainder of the sugar, and beat light. 

Mix orange and lemon-juice together. 

Put creamed butter and sugar into the middle of 
flour. 

Pour eggs and sugar upon it and beat all together. - 

As you finish beating, put in the orange and 
lemon juice, and beat with quick, final, a//-through 
strokes to effervescence. 

Fill pans at once, — two thirds full, — and put in 
the oven. 

Bake and watch, as by previous instructions for 
all nice, light cake. 


78 YUST HOW. 


To be iced. The icing flavored with strained 
orange-juice in which grated rind has been soaked. 
Use a spoonful at a time until the flavor suits you. 


SNOW, OR SILVER-CAKE, 


Make ready: One pound, or two cups, of fine 
granulated sugar, dried. — Six ounces, or one cup, of 
small-broken butter.— Three quarters of a pound, 
light, or two even cupfuls, of dried and sifted flour; 
or, instead, which makes a more delicate cake, one 
even cup of flour, and four tablespoonfuls of corn- 
starch, sifted together. —— Whites of twelve eggs. — 
Juice of one lemon. — Two tablespoonfuls of rose- 
water, or half a teaspoonful of peach-water or es- 
sence of bitter almonds. Use these last essences 
with care, and observe directions accompanying ve- 
liable preparations. 


Cream the butter; then beat with it, very white 
and light, one cup of the sugar. 

Beat the whites of eggs to stiffness, then beat 
the other cup of sugar to them. 3 

Drop butter and sugar into the flour. 

Turn eggs and sugar upon it, and stir all to even 
lightness. ak 

Add rose-water during the last of the beating. 

Bake in small square tins, or in sheet pans, filled 
and tended as usual. 

Icing flavored with rose-water. 


GUST HOW. 79 


CAKES RAISED WITH YEAST. 
RAISED LOAF-CAKE. 


FIRST: MIXING. 


Make ready: One pint and a half of flour. — One 
pint of warm milk. — Half a teacup of yeast. — One 
teaspoonful of salt. 


Mix salt with flour; put yeast into the middle; 
add gradually the warm milk, beating to a batter. 
Set to rise over night. 


SECOND MIXING. 


Make ready: One cup of solid butter. — Two cups 
sifted brown sugar.— Four eggs, whites and yolks 
separate. — One round tablespoonful of mixed spice. 
—Three cups of flour ; one teaspoonful of soda mixed 
in. 

Fruit as below, if you desire it. 


Cream the butter. 

Beat the sugar with it. Add spice. 

Beat yolks of eggs, then whites, then both to- 
gether. 

Beat butter and sugar with the risen batter. 

Add the eggs and beat all well. 

Put in the last pint of flour, gradually, mixing 
thoroughly with the hand. Leave out a little of it, _ 
if not needed for a soft cake dough, 


80 FUST HOW. 


If you wish to add fruit, do it now. Two heaping 
cups of raisins, stoned and floured ; or, one heaping 
cup of raisins, stoned and floured, and one of cur- 
rants, washed, dried, and floured; then both mixed 
together. Citron, also, if you please, cut in bits or 
strips, and mixed with the rest. 

Set to rise again till perfectly light. Then scrape 
down and stir; fill pans two thirds full; let stand a 
few minutes, say fifteen, in a warm place —on the 
stove hearth, or on the top of a drum, or covered 
hot-water kettle. It will not rise perceptibly in the 
pans, but the process will have degux afresh in them 
and will complete in the baking. Bake an hour or 
more. : 

ICING FOR CAKE, 

For every two whites of eggs, take a heaping cup 
of best powdered loaf-sugar. 

Beat the whites of eggs to solid froth, to stand 
alone. 

Sprinkle the sugar in gradually, beating all the 
time. If more sugar can be whzpped in, add it ; but 
this measure is the rule. 

Flavor with orange, lemon, rose-water, or what- 
ever is prescribed ; the juice of one lemon, or equiv- 
alent of orange juice, or two tablespoonfuls of rose- 
water, to four eggs and two heaping cups of sugar. 

If you use orange or lemon flavor, grate the rind 
and soak it in the juice beforehand ; then strain the 
juice into the icing. 

Drop in spoonfuls upon the middle of your cake, 





YUST HOW. 8I 


and spread with a knife wet in cold water; or, still 
better, if the shape of the cake allow, —and almost 
any loaf does, — let it spread itself, from the middle 
down to and over the edges. 

Set to dry in a warm, airy place. 

N. B. Ice cake before it grows quite cold, but 
not when hot. 

BUNS. 


FIRST MIXING, 


Make ready: One pint of sifted flour. — One pint 
of warm milk.— Half a cup of yeast. — One tea- 
spoonful of salt. 


Mix salt with flour. 

Make hole in middle of flour and put in yeast. 

Pour to this the warmed milk, and stir all to a 
batter. 

Beat well; set to rise in a warm place, as you 
would muffins or buckwheat cakes. 


SECOND MIXING, 


Make ready: One pint of sifted flour, a small tea- 
spoonful of soda mixed in. — One large tablespoonful 
of solid butter. — Two eggs, whites ane yolks sep- 
arate. — One cup of sugar. 


Beat the butter to a cream ina small bowl. Put 
to it as much of the sugar — perhaps half —as will 
beat lightly with it. 

6 


82 JFUST HOW. 


Beat yolks of eggs, then whites, then both to- 
gether. Put remainder of sugar to these, and beat 
up. 

Beat butter and sugar to the risen batter, adding 
eggs and sugar almost at the same time. Beat all 
light, but no longer than needful. Like all mixtures 
whose components are well beaten separately, it wed/ 
be light as soon as thoroughly stirred together. 

Stir in the reserved pint —or a little more, if 
needed — of flour, using the chopping-knife to bring 
it to a tender dough. 

Set to rise for two or three hours, or until very 
light. 

Sift flour lightly upon your moulding-board ; scrape 
down and-work the dough a little in the bowl with a 
knife ; take a piece at a time as large as an egg, drop 
it on the floured board, dredge it a little with flour, 
shape and roll it with the knife and your fingers into 
a bun. 

Set the buns close together in buttered biscuit- 
pans, and let them rise to a. sponge as you do bis- 
cuits. Mix a small quantity of milk and molasses 
together, —say a large spoonful of each, — wet your 
finger or a brush in it, and pass over the tops of the 
buns, and put them in a quick oven. 

Bake about fifteen minutes. 


PLAIN GINGERBREAD, OR SPICE BREAD. 


Make ready : One cup broken butter, even. — Two 
cups molasses. — Six light, scant cups-sifted flour, — 


GUST HOW. | 83 


one teaspoonful and a half of salt mixed in. — One 
cup of sweet milk, with two teaspoonfuls of soda dis- 
solved in it. 

For spice: Two round teaspoonfuls of yellow gin- 
ger: or, — one round teaspoonful of clove, half tea- 
spoonful cinnamon, and a pinch of mace: ov, — one 
round teaspoonful of clove, and half a teaspoonful of 
yellow ginger :— Three round teaspoonfuls of grated 
orange peel make a very nice addition to the flavor- 
ing. A slow, steady oven. 


Cream the butter. 

Mix the spice, and stir into the butter. 

Drop the butter into the middle of the flour. 

Pour the molasses gradually into it, stirring in the 
usual way, from centre. 

When nearly all the flour is gathered into the bat- 
ter, add the milk with the dissolved soda, and beat 
up well. 

Bake in sheet-iron pans, or small square tins; fill 
two thirds full. 

May also be baked as cookies, in muffin rings; or 
as drop-cakes, in your small drop-cake rings. See 
“ Drop-cakes.”’ 


84 FUST HOW. 


COOKIES, ETC. 

This class of recipes constitutes, perhaps, the most 
debatable ground in the whole cookery book, as 
ordinarily written. You are continually told, “so 
much butter, so many eggs, so much sugar, so much 
milk, molasses, or whatever,’ and “flour to roll out.” 

Now, as success in putting together depends upon 
- precision and promptness, it is very important to 
have at least an approximate idea beforehand of how 
much flour it will zake to roll out. 

The “one, two, three, four” recipe, as I have said 
before under that heading of cake, is nearly a rolling- 
out mixture; that is, one cup of butter, two of sugar, 
and four eggs, as moist material, will take three cups 
of flour to.make a very soft, delicate, brittle dough. 

If, therefore, milk, or any other wetting, be added 
to such proportion, as much flour, also, in addition, 
will be needed, as would make that milk or other lig- 
utd into tender dough. ‘Vhat is, according to rule 
in Section II., zwo cups of flour to one of milk. 

With this rule as a basis, you may analyze a recipe, 
and form careful judgment which will be a close ap- 
proximation, at least, to exactness ; and so avoid the 
flurry and blundering, and the perplexity as to how 
to get wet and dry smoothly together, which that 
easy dismissal on the author’s part, of “flour to roll 
out,” leaves to the learner. 


GUST HOW, 85 


Always, in such cases, reserve a little of your 
measure of flour, that you may not err on the irrev- 
ocable side of too much. What you want is to 
accomplish your usual smooth mixing; not being 
obliged to put incongruous moist material all to- 
gether first, to turn curdled and watery, before you 
stir in the flour. You can lightly sift in additional 
flour as you approach the end of your mixing. 

A special peint will be, the quickness with which 
you must perceive and act upon this requirement of 
added flour at the last; as the soda should always 
be mixed with the first measure of flour if possi- 
ble ; and any more flour must be swiftly and thor- 
oughly incorporated, before the effervescent action 
has ceased. 

I have made careful experiment with all the usual 
ingredients in such recipes as I here speak of, sep- 
arately ; and the following are the rules at which I 
have arrived, for the quantities of flour they will take 
up, respectively, in mixing to batter, semi-dough, or 
stiff paste. 


One measure of butter, lightly creamed, to one of 
flour, will make a pound cake batter. 

One measure of butter, lightly creamed, to two of 
flour, will make a soft, or semi-dough. 

One measure of butter, lightly creamed, to three 
of flour, will make a dough ; with four, a stiff paste. 

One measure of butter, lightly creamed, to two of 
sugar and three of flour, will make a stiff dough, that 


86 YUST HOW. 


is, a dough that can be mixed with a chopping-knife. 
By a stiff paste, as above, I mean something decidedly 
stiffer than this. 

One measure of molasses to two of flour, will 
make a gingerbread batter. 

One measure of molasses to two and a half of 
flour, will make a semi-dough. 

One measure of molasses to three and a half of 
flour, will make a stzff paste. 

One beaten egg and two tablespoonfuls or a full 
half-gill of flour, will make a cake batter. 

One beaten egg and three tablespoonfuls or three 
fourths of a gill of flour, will make a semi-dough. 

One beaten egg and four tablespoonfuls or a full 
gill of flour, will make a “ chopping-knife” dough. 


Sugar, with butter, eggs, and flour, would appear 
from the above experiments simply to help combine, 
without altering much the proportions of the other 
two ingredients, since one measure of butter with 
three of flour will make a true dough, and when 
beaten with two measures of sugar will still take 
three measures of flour, —the paste scarcely differ- 
ing except by being more tenacious. 

The tendency, therefore, is in part to soften; and 
with much liquid, as milk, or molasses, or both, es- 
pecially if combined directly, should be allowed for 
as far as it increases the volume or measure of the 
liquid. 

These rules are for first calculation, in trying new 





GUST HOW. 87 


recipes. In any recipe you may repeat and adopt, 
you will soon establish rule and measure for your- 
self. 

Bear in mind that the foregoing are the full 
measures of flour that the given moist materials 
will take up, and retain the prescribed character 
of “batter,” “semi-dough,” “dough,” or “stiff,” yet 
“rollable,” paste. And that, in cake-making, to se- 
cure tenderness and delicacy, the flour measure 
should always be rather on the side of scantness. 

I repeat, therefore, reserve some of your flour in 
these uncertain cases to sprinkle tn at the last of the 
beating — say one cup in every six. 

Remember, also, that eggs—although in their 
raw beaten state they will mix the amount of flour 
mentioned — effect, in the baking, the setting, or 
stiffening of the compound; therefore, if eggs count 
largely in the moist material, you should scant the 
allowance of flour accordingly, or at least use cor- 
responding caution in making your reserve. 

You will perceive that it is easy, by the former 
rules for comparative weights and measures, to 
translate the one into the other for the applying 
of these principles. 


88 | ¥FUST HOW. 


‘‘ ONE, TWO, THREE, FOUR” COOKIES. 


Make ready: One cup of butter, solid. — Two 
cups of fine-granulated sugar. — Three round cups 
of flour. — Four eggs, whites and yolks separate. — 
One even teaspoonful of cream-tartar, and half the 
same of soda, mixed together, and into the flour. — 
Two even tablespoonfuls of caraway seeds, or any 
spice you may prefer.— One even teaspoonful of 
salt. 


Several buttered biscuit-pans. 

Mix the salt and caraway seeds with the flour. 

Cream the butter, beat half the sugar with it. 
Add the spice, if spice is used. 

Beat yolks of eggs, then whites, then both to- 
gether; then beat the other half of the sugar to 
them. 

Drop the butter and sugar to the flour; then the 
eggs and sugar, mixing all together quickly to soft, 
even dough. 

Sift flour, finely and evenly, over the middle of 
your moulding-board. 

Take a teaspoonful at a time of your cake dough, 
drop it on the floured board, roll it over with your 
finger-tips till it is floured enough to take up care- 
fully and place in the pan. Do this, and pat it 
quickly and gently, with floured fingers, from its 
ball-shape to around cake. You need only press — 
it from centre outward; the edges will take care of 


YOST HOW. - 89 


themselves. Go on in this way till you have filled 
your pan, then have it placed in the oven, while you 
proceed to fill others. 

Two persons are really always required to make 
and bake nice cookies. One pan will bake, in a 
quick oven, while you are filling another. Each 
pan should be just slightly touched over with butter 
when a baking is removed, before another is put in. 

A slightly convex, plain, smooth wooden stamp, 
dusted with flour, might be used, instead of the 
fingers, and more quickly, to press the cakes into 
shape. Of course, this way of managing is a little 
slower, but not more troublesome, than the ordi- 
nary way of rolling out and cutting; but this cake 
recipe, which makes delicious cookies, cannot be 
used for rolling out; and all rolled cakes takea good 
deal of flour in the repeated process of gathering 
and using up the dough, thus growing somewhat 
plainer and tougher all the time. For rich, elegant 
little cakes this is the best method I know of. 

You may spread the dough in like manner on tin 
sheets, then cut through and across in strip-pieces, 
with a wheel cake-cutter, if you like. 


THIN SUGAR GINGERBREAD 


May be made by these last directions, substituting 
a teaspoonful or more, as you fancy, of yellow gin- 
ger for other spice, and spreading on tin sheets as 
suggested at close of recipe. 


90 YUST HOW. 


CRISP, ROLLED-OUT COOKIES. 


Make ready: Seven cups of flour.— One round, 
solid cup of butter.— Two round cups of sugar. — 
Four eggs, whites and yolks separate. — One cup 
of sour milk, as creamy as possible. — One round 
teaspoonful of soda. — One round teaspoonful salt. 
— Two tablespoonfuls of caraway seeds. ; 


Mix salt and soda with the flour. 

Chop in the butter, as you do for pie-crust. 

Mix the caraway seeds and almost a cupful of the 
sugar evenly with the shortened flour. 

Beat the yolks of eggs, then the whites, then both 
together. Add the rest of the sugar, and beat to- 
gether light. 

Drop eggs and sugar into middle of flour. Begin 
to mix, and as you do so pour in the sour milk, stir- 
ring from the middle outward, and bringing all to- 
gether. Finish with the chopping-knife, if needed, 
_as it stiffens. 

Sprinkle flour from fine sifter upon the mould- 
ing-board ; over this sift fine sugar; put a conven- 
ient part of the dough upon it, and roll out with 
smaller rolling-pin. Sift sugar over the rolled 
dough, and cut in rounds or strips. Lay in biscuit- 
pans, and bake brown. 

Ov, you may roll at once upon tin baking sheets, 
divide in strips, sugar, and bake. 


FUST HOW. gI 


THIN MOLASSES GINGERBREAD, 


Make ready: One cup broken butter, scant. — 
One cup brown sugar.— Two cups molasses. — 
One cup sour milk.— Eight round cups, or two 
heaped quarts, sifted flour.— One round teaspoon- 
ful salt.— One round tablespoonful soda. — Two 
round teaspoonfuls yellow ginger. 


Mix soda and salt with flour. 

Cream the butter. Beat the sugar with it. Stir 
in the spice. 

Mix molasses and sour milk well together. 

Drop butter and sugar to the middle of the flour. 

Pour molasses and milk upon it, and mix quickly 
to a soft dough. Add milk if needed. 

Spread in sheet pans, or drop and spread with a 
teaspoon in your small cake-rings, set into pans. 
Sprinkle fine brown sugar on them; bake crisp. 


GINGER SNAPS. 


Make ready: One cup of broken butter, even. — 
One cup of brown sugar.— Two cups of molasses. 
— One heaping teaspoonful of salt. — Two teaspoon- 
fuls of soda. 

For spice: see recipe for “ Plain Gingerbread ;”’ 
only for “round” read “heaped,” to allow for the 
greater proportion of flour to be added in making 
snap. — A large bowl of flour, from which to take 
whatever quantity may be needed; two quarts and 


92 FUST HOW. 


upward. This is one of the cases where the flour 
is put in last, and added till the right stiffness is 
attained. 


Put molasses, sugar, butter, salt, spice, soda, all 
together in a porcelain saucepan or very nice iron 
kettle, and set on the fire, stirring till it boils, and 
keeping at the boil for five minutes. 

Pour off into a big bowl or pan, and begin at 
once to stir in your flour. Do it quickly, throw- 
ing in the flour generously, and moulding it with 
your hand as it grows stiff for the spoon. It will 
not stick, and must be made as stiff as can be rolled. 

In cold weather, keep your dough near the fire 
until all is used, as it hardens in cooling. 

Take what you can manage at a time, and roll out 
very thin on a floured board, cut in small rounds or 
narrow strips, with a wheel-cutter, lay in shallow 
pans, and bake immediately. 

Work as rapidly as you can fill and wren your 
pans. 

This recipe was given me by one of the best of 
old-fashioned country house-keepers, who said, in 
offering it to me for “snaps,” “and I tell you they 
do snap!”’ 

I have used it, and I can tell you they do snap, 
and melt, too, in your mouth. 


FUST HOW. 93 


DROP-CAKES, 


Any cake mixture which will drop, that is, which 
will spread easily upon the pans, may be used for 
drop-cakes. 

_ Have some small-sized, very shallow muffin-rings ; 
butter these and your biscuit-pans in which you 
place them ; put a teaspoonful of cake mixture in 
each, sprinkle fine sugar over them, and bake ina 
fairly quick oven. When brown, they are done. 

See recipes for “ Sponge Cake No. II.,” for “ One, 
' two, three, four Cake,” “Lemon Queen Cake,” 
“ Queen and rich Gingerbreads,’ etc. 


CLOSING REMARKS UPON CAKE-MAKING. 


I have given, in the instructions of the preceding 
division, the most sure and careful rules that I could 
make. They are not like the laws of the Medes 
and Persians. When one has become mistress of 
nice stitchery, she knows when and where she may 
ease and slight, when she may run instead of over- 
seam, when she can “ blow together,’ and when she 
must stitch closely. It is the same with cookery. 
Every old hand at it can toss things up at short 
notice, with result almost or quite undistinguisha- 
ble from that of more laborious method ; can turn 
a remnant of one mixture into the beginning of 
another ; can modify, and take liberties, and invent, 
for occasion. Familiarity with method and princi- 
ple, however, is essential first, and at the foundation. 


94 _ -¥OST HOW. 


Slighting, when it is dexterous enough to be spelled 
“sleighting,” is high art. With high art, as I an- 
nounced at the outset, my present purpose does not 
lie. . 

I only think it fair to let you know that there are 
convenient sleights and turns possible in this, and 
in all, departments of cooking: that the more you 
practice with preciseness, the more short cuts you 
may discover. To point them all out would only be 
to confuse the way with guide-boards. Besides, in 
many things, so long as one needs telling how, one 
cannot be quite fit or ready to be told. 


SECTION II 
RECIPES. 


PART III.— TEA, COFFEE, AND SIMPLE BREAKFAST 
DISHES. 
TEA. 


Make ready: A kettle of water just come to a 
boil. — A stone-china teapot. — Three teaspoonfuls 
of tea for a pint of water, or for two persons. 


Scald the teapot, filling it full of boiling water, 
and letting it stand till hot through. | 

Then pour out and put in the tea. 

Just wet it with water on the boil: 

Let it stand two or three minutes. 

Fill up with the requisite measure of water, s¢zd/ 
on the boil. 


GUST HOW. 95 


Cover tight, and set where it will be Zoz, for five 
minutes. 


COFFEE. 


Keep your coffee-pot clean and polished, inside 
and out. Always have it washed in hot suds, rubbed 
dry, and set before the fire, after every using. 

Roast and grind your own coffee, if you can. 

Otherwise, for next best, buy well-roasted coffee, 
and heat it over and grind as you use it. 

The best coffee is Mocha and Old Java, equally 
mixed. 

For third best, —and pretty good too, if you have 
a good grocer, — buy and test, till you get the very 
best, the mill-roasted and ground coffee, and be very 
careful in preparing. 


Make ready: One teacupful of roasted and ground 
coffee. — The clean coffee-pot, Zot. It must be large 
enough to hold one third more coffee than you in- 
tend to make. 


Put the coffee in, close the pot, and set it ona 
drum or back corner of the stove, for a few minutes, 
till the coffee is just hot, xo more. Shake up, that 
it may heat evenly. It must not roast. 

Meanwhile, stir, not beat, an egg in a cup; crush 
up theshell with it; turn it in upon the coffee, and 
stir together with a fork. 

Pour a quart of boiling water, gradually, to the 
coffee, stirring it as you do so. 


96 GUST HOW. 


Close tight, set on the fire, and boil ten minutes. 
Lift the cover and stir down, quickly. Pour a little 
through the spout into a cup, and turn back. Do 
all quickly. Shut tight, and set where it will keep 
simmering hot, but not boil. 


ANOTHER WAY. 


Make ready: Hot coffee-pot, as before. — One 
large cupful of ground coffee, tied loosely as to 
space, but tightly as to string, in a muslin cloth. 

Put this into the pot, and stand in a hot place 
a few minutes, tightly closed. Shake up once or 
twice and be sure not to scorch. 

Pour the quart of boiling water upon it, and set 
on the fire. Boil slowly and uninterruptedly for 
half an hour. It will turn off clear, and is as nice 
as coffee need to be. 


CHOCOLATE, BROMA, PREPARED COCOA, ETC. 


Make ready: The preparation measured off as 
ordered in directions accompanying the article. — 
Boiling water, in proportion to the same, in a nice 
saucepan. | 

Mix the chocolate -or cocoa smoothly with a little 
cold water, and stir it into the boiling water; boil 
ten or fifteen minutes for chocolate, twice as long 
for cocoa. Add cream or milk as you would in pre- 
paring a beverage at table; that is, to bring color 
and taste to your liking ; it takes a generous meas- 
ure, the ordinary rule being equal quantities of milk 
and water; but I think there can be no invariable 


FUST HOW. 97 


rule given, any more than for pouring out cups of 
coffee, more or less creamed for different persons. 


EGGS. BOILED. 


Make ready: A good-sized saucepan, with a good 
deal of fast-boiling water. Proportion space and 
quantity to the number of eggs wanted, always 
allowing enough for the water to continue boiling 
as the eggs are dropped in. — The eggs you wish to 
boil laid in quite warm water, for the double pur 
pose of warming and of washing them. 


Drop the eggs carefully into the boiling water, 
and time them as desired. 

Three minutes for a very thin-boiled egg. 

Four minutes for a set white and soft yolk. 

Five, six, or seven minutes for an egg to cut 
through in same ratio of solidity. 

Ten minutes for a crumbly-hard egg. 


FRIED EGGS. 


Make ready: A pan with enough clear, boiling fat 
in it to cover an egg broken in; if you have been 
frying ham or sausages, strain the fat and put it 
back in the pan, from which all scraps of the first 
fry have been scraped or wiped. — Break the eggs, 
one by one, into a cup; drop each carefully into the 
fat, so as to keep it well together. Do not fry more 
than three at once. — Dip up the fat with a spoon, 
and, pour it gently over the eggs as they cook, until 

7 


98 GUST HOW. 


a delicate white coating forms, through which the 
yolk blushes. — Fry a longer or a shorter time, as 
desired soft or hard. You need no test but eye and 
touch. 

DROPPED EGGS. 

Same process as the last, except that you use a 
pan of boiling water with a teaspoonful of salt in 
it to drop the eggs in, instead of fat. 

Serve on slices of “water toast,’ for which see 
recipe. Barely dip the toast for an instant; do not 
let it soak. Skim the butter on nicely and evenly. 


SCRAMBLED EGGS. 


Make ready: Eight eggs, broken all together into 
a bowl. — Frying-pan, with a round tablespoonful of 
butter scattered in in bits, peppered lightly, and 
sprinkled with a scant teaspoonful of salt.—A 
large, limber knife, or a griddle-spade. 


Put the pan on the fire. As the butter melts, 
turn in the eggs. 

Begin at once to scrape and toss up from the bot- 
tom, as the egg “sets” there. Handle quickly, fol- 
lowing the cooking of the egg, keeping all turned 
and mixed and scrambled together, until there is jus¢ 
no liquid and no tough, leathery solid, but a delicate 
mixture of white and yellow, set but not hard, moist 
but not running, which will pile into a dish. Keep 
the handle of the pan in your left hand, as you stir 
with your right, shifting it over the heat as needed, 


FUST HOW. 99 


or even raising it, if cooking too fast. It will go on 
hardening in the hot pan after it is taken from the 
fire; therefore either allow for this, and for stirring 
a moment or two after removal, or turn very quickly 
into a hot dish when finished exactly right. 


OMELETTE. 


Make ready : Six eggs, whites and yolks separate. 
— Two round saltspoonfuls of salt. — Half a salt- 
spoonful of pepper.— One tablespoonful of thick 
cream. — One dessert-spoonful of butter. — Frying- 
pan, with bits of butter about equal to two English 
walnuts. 


Cream the butter. 

Beat the cream into it. 

Beat the yolks of eggs very spongy light. 

Beat the whites till they will stand alone. 

Put yolks and butter together, with the salt and 
pepper, and beat well. 

Add the whites, beating all the time. 

When nearly ready, have the pan set on the fire. 
When it is so hot that the butter begins to fry, stir 
this well over the bottom of the pan, and pour in 
the omelette, scraping it quickly out of the bowl 
with your palette-knife. 

Turn the pan, shift it over the fire, or lift it an 
instant, slightly, if needed, as the omelette cooks. 
Do not let it burn. 

Raise the omelette at the edges with a knife, as 


100 YUST HOW. 


it sets, passing the knife farther and farther under it 
as it grows firm, and letting the butter run under, 
and the air pass in, to keep from scorching. 

When you can raise it to the middle, and it is 
high and fluffy, éake the pan off and set it in the 
oven on the grated shelf, to finish setting the top 
of the omelette firmly, which will be quickly done. 
You may either brown it, and serve it in a round, 
upon a large dish, or you may turn one half upon 
the other in the usual omelette shape, as soon as it 
ceases to be at all liquid. 

Slip or turn upon a hot dish, put a hot cover over 
it, and send it instantly to table. 

For fancy omelettes,add either a little fine herb 
seasoning, a little chopped parsley, a little mace to 
the pepper and salt, some fine minced ham, with a 
bit of chopped onion, chopped tomatoes, — in which 
case you beat a tablespoonful of flour with your 
butter and cream, and use perhaps three moderate- 
sized tomatoes, — or any other mixture you may find 
and choose in the cookery-books, to your beaten 
eggs; always putting these things to the beaten 
yolks, first, and then ais the stiff whites, as just 


directed. 
FINE HOMINY. 


Number four is best. 

Wash a large cupful in plenty of water several 
times, rinsing till very clean and white. Put it in 
an inner boiler, with the water boiling in the outer 
one; enough cold water poured to the hominy to 


¥UST HOW. IOI 


make a quart of the whole, and stirred up with a > 
teaspoonful of salt. Cover close both boilers, and 
boil half an hour. 

Uncover, stir, and if too thin, boil, uncovered, till 
of the consistence of hasty-pudding. That is till it 
will not quite four, but stirs and turns out easily. 

It may be boiled at once in an open saucepan, but 
will need, in that case, more constant watching and 
stirring to prevent its burning. 

Stir in a large spoonful of butter before serving. 
More can be added at table. 


COARSE HOMINY. 


Soak over night, and boil in plenty of water to 
keep it covered, till perfectly tender ; then turn off 
any superfluous water, and set back where it will 
steam off a little, like rice. The water should be 
salted, at first, with a teaspoonful to a quart. 

It should be set on as soon as the fire is made in 
the morning, dy az carly riser, as it requires a long, 
slow, steady boiling. Two hours, certainly. Stir in 
butter, and serve. 


FINE HOMINY CAKES. 


FOR BREAKFAST OR DINNER, ESPECIALLY NICE WITH 
THE LATTER, AS A VEGETABLE, 


Fresh boiled hominy, or that which has been set 
aside cold, may be used. If the latter, break it into 
grains, as lightly as possible, with a fork, and heat 
it in an inside steaming-pail, as first cooked, only 


102 YUST HOW. 


not putting water to it. Stir in a little butter; a 
tablespoonful to about a pint, unless it was much 
buttered when first cooked. 

For a pint, or a little less, take two eggs, and beat 
whites and yolks separately. Stir the yolks to the 
hominy, then the whites to all. A saltspoonful of | 
salt, if the hominy was well salted at first; if not, 
more. . 

Drop in spoonfuls on tin plates, well buttered, 
and bake to a nice brown. These are delicious, and 
as light as sponge drops. 


FRIED HOMINY 


May be prepared as the preceding, with the addi- 
tion of a very little flour, — say a teaspoonful to a 
pint, beaten in with the butter,— then make into 
round cakes or balls, by rolling a large spoonful at 
a time in a little flour, and fry in hot lard, like 
doughnuts or fishballs. 

To fry plain, cut cold hominy in nice slices, put 
enough butter in the frying-pan to well cover the 
bottom when melted, and when it “sizzles” lay in 
your hominy slices, fry till brown on the under side, 
turn carefully with a griddle-spade, and brown on 
the other. 

Lay evenly on a side dish to serve. Eat with but- 
ter and syrup; map/e, if you can get it. 


MUSH, OR HASTY-PUDDING. 


Put a quart of boiling water into a porcelain 
saucepan, and set on the fire. 


YUST HOW. 103 


Mixa cupful of finely sifted Indian meal, smoothly, 
with cold water ina bowl. Stirit into the boiling 
water, with a teaspoonful of salt. 

Continue to stir, pretty constantly and thoroughly, 
while it is cooking, which will take from twenty 
minutes to half an hour. It should boil down till 
too thick to pour, but of a soft stirring consistency. 

Eat with milk, cream, or butter and syrup. 

Cold mush may be put into shallow pans or dishes, 
wet with cold water, to enable you to turn it out as 
from a mould, and set away to be fried for another 
meal. Little cake-tins make pretty shapes for this 
purpose. Fry in just enough butter to well cover 
the bottom of the pan. 

Put the butter into the pan cold, and heat until it 
“sizzles.” In this way, you will not get your pan 
overheated, so as to burn the butter when put into 
it, as may easily happen if you set the pan on be- 
forehand. 


ANOTHER WAY TO FRY HASTY-PUDDING. 


Make it fresh, by the preceding directions. Stir 
in additional meal, as it boils and thickens, until it 
is as stiff as you can well stir. 

Add a spoonful of butter to a quart of the mush, 
stirred in hot. 

When done, turn it out into a bowl or dish, and 
while it cools somewhat, beat up two eggs very 
light, and stir them in as soon as the pudding is cool 
enough not to curdle, or cook them. 


104 JUST HOW. 


Mix nicely together, and then make into little 
balls, by rolling a spoonful at a time in flour sprink- 
led thickly on a dish or moulding-board. 

Drop into hot lard, and fry like doughnuts. 


HASTY-PUDDING TO CUT AND FRY IN SLICES. 


Make the pudding stiff, as by last directions. Set 
away cold. 

It will cut in firm slices, to be fried in a pan or 
on a griddle, with butter, like the moulded pudding 
of the first recipe. 


FRIED POTATOES. 


Fry out three or four slices of nice salt pork in 
your pan, until perfectly crisp. Take time for it, 
that it may fry steadily, but slowly, without the 
least scorching. 

Slice up cold boiled potatoes, in about three 
lengthwise slices each for moderate-sized ones, so 
that they may hold together, and not break or 
crumble. 

_ Dredge them very lightly with flour, through a 

fine sifter. If possible let each piece be just dusted 
evenly. Then put a few at a time into the hot fat, 
from which you have removed the crisped pork. 
Lay this on the dish in which the potatoes are to be 
served. 

Tend the potatoes carefully, turning them with a 
fork, until they are well and evenly browned. As 
they are finished, lay them on the dish for table. 
Keep covered and hot. 


YUST HOW. 105 


FRIED RAW POTATOES. 


Wash, pare, and slice them thin but not in shav- 
ings, an hour beforehand. Lay them in cold water 
for three quarters of an hour. Then turn off the 
cold water, and pour boiling water upon them. Let 
them stand while you fry out your pork, as directed 
in the preceding. 

Drain the potatoes, and ae them dry with a 
clean, soft towel. Fry, without dredging, as in pre- 
vious recipe, | 


SARATOGA POTATOES, 


- Pare the potatoes, and shave them with a potato- 
slicer, so thin that you can almost see through them. 
Drop them from the slicer into a large pan of ice 
cold water. Do this overnight for breakfast, or 
early in the morning for dinner. When you have 
ice, put a large piece in the pan. 

Just long enough before frying to accomplish it, 
drain them from the water, and wipe them perfectly 
dry, a few at a time of course, that you may make 
them so. While this is doing, have a broad, deep 
pan or kettle on the fire, with lard melting in it, 
enough to make fat three inches deep, as for frying 
doughnuts. Let this become boiling hot, but not 
scorching. 

Carefully separate the slices of potato from each 
other as you put them in to fry, and do not put in 
more at a time than you find you can keep separate 
while cooking. Tend them with a fork, tossing 


106 YUST HOW. 


them over to brown delicately and evenly. They 
must nowhere be white, and nowhere black or 
dark; but uniformly of the color of a light brown 
pie-crust. 

Have a large sieve, laid over a pan, to receive 
them as finished, take them up with a skimmer, and 
sprinkle them with fine salt as you pile them in the 
sieve. 

Keep your pan close by the fire, that the potatoes 
may not grow cold; but they will well bear setting 
in the oven to heat up, if necessary; or to heat over 
another time. They will be like the nicest little 
flakes of pastry. 

You are not obliged, therefore, to cook them just 
at the getting of a meal. You may make a sepa- 
rate, leisurely work of it, as you would of cakes or 
pie-crust, at any convenient time beforehand. 


STEWED POTATOES. | 


Make ready: Cold boiled potatoes, cut in small 
bits, a pint bowl full of pieces, for the quantity of 
dressing about to be directed. — Half a teacupful . 
of broken butter. — One cupful of boiling water. — 
One cupfui of cream. — Two saltspoonfuls of salt. — 
One saltspoonful of powdered mace, or rather more 
of grated nutmeg. — One even teaspoonful of corn- 
starch or sifted flour. 


Put the cream into a saucepan, turn the boiling 
water to it, stir and set on the fire. 


YUST HOW. 107 


Wet the starch or flour, with a little cold milk, 
carefully and smoothly. 

When the cream and water boils, stir in the thick- 
ening, letting it boil up as you do so. 

Now stir in the butter, smoothly, as you do for 
dipped toast. 

Sprinkle in the salt and mace, with a scatter of 
pepper over the top, repeated until you find the sea- 
soning savory without being hot. 

Turn in the potatoes, stir, and boil up, then allow 
to simmer slowly a few minutes, until they are well 
softened and cooked. 


POTATO SOUFFLEE. 


Make ready: Six or eight potatoes, according to 
size, freshly boiled and mashed fine. — For a quart 
of mashed potato, a teacup of broken butter and a 
heaping teaspoonful of salt, stirred in hot. — Keep 
the potato covered in a hot place. —A cupful of 
cream, or rich milk, set on to warm.— Four eggs, 
whites and yolks separate. — A large, thickly but- 
tered baking-dish. 


Beat the yolks of eggs, then the whites, then both 
together. 

Turn the cupful of cream to the potato, and beat 
up quickly. | 

Give a little fresh beat to the eggs, and then beat 
them thoroughly and lightly into the whole. 

Add a scatter of pepper at a time, until the potato 
tastes just pleasantly of it. 


108 YUST HOW. 


Put all into your buttered baking dish, and into 
the oven. Bake quickly, till puffed up and delicately 
browned, Allow twenty minutes, 

The same may be made very delicately, with the 
whites only of three eggs. 


POTATO BALLS. 


Take fresh boiled and mashed potatoes, or those 
which have been mashed while hot, and stir in a 
tablespoonful of butter and a beaten egg to a full 
pint of potato. If the potato is cold, cream the but- 
ter before working it in. Adda half teaspoonful of 
salt, and a dust of pepper. 

Put in spoonfuls on a well floured moulding-board, 
dredge with flour, and roll into balls or cakes. 

Put enough butter into a frying-pan to run over 
the bottom of it freely when melted, heat it to the 
frying point, and lay in the potato cakes. Turn 
them very carefully as they brown. When brown all 
over, they are done. 


SALT FISH. 


Procure in the first place the large, thick, white 
fish which cuts in good, solid slices. 

Cut through in strips, and divide in squares, as 
much as you wish to use. Wash it as well as you 
can, and lay it to soak in cool, not absolutely cold, 
water over night. Change the water early in the 
morning, and let it soak again for two or three 
hours, 


FUST HOW. 109 


Wash it out of this water, scrape and clean it as 
nicely as possible, and put it in a kettle with luke- 
warm water enough to cover it. Set it where it will 
gradually heat to the scalding point, and keep it 
scalding, but do not allow it to boil for a moment. 

About an hour before dinner time, take it up, lay 
it in cold water, and with particular care remove 
every bit of dark fish, skin and bone; leaving only 
delicate, palatable pieces which may all be helped 
out and eaten unhesitatingly and impartially. Then 
return it to the kettle, which has been washed out, 
cover with warm water, and let it just come toa boil, 
and set back till ready to dish. 

So far, for diwner: as the preparation of a break- 
fast dish from salt fish must depend on all this hav- 
ing been done the day before. The sauce, etc, for 
dinner accompaniment, will be given in the proper 
place. 

FISHBALLS. 

Make ready: A pint of cold salt fish, prepared as 
above, nicely shredded and chopped. Do this the 
night before, to save time in the morning. — A little 
less than a quart of fresh boiled and mashed potatoes, 
with a cupful of broken butter, and two even tea- 
spoonfuls of made mustard mixed thoroughly in. — 
Also, half a teaspoonful of salt. 

Beat up an egg light, and stir it in, with a spoon- 
ful or two of cream or sweet milk. 

Now add the chopped fish, throwing in and turn- 
ing over a little at a time, till all is in and equally 
“mingled. 


110 ¥UST HOW. 


Take a heaping tablespoonful at a time, and roll © 
it on a floured board, dredging it lightly after it is 
shaped. Make it into as perfect a little ball as you 
can. Go on in this way till all is made up, and all 
are uniform. 

In the mean time, you must have had your deep 
frying-kettle on the fire, with lard heating in it, as 
for doughnuts ; three inches deep when melted, and 
just boiling hot, for the putting in of the fishballs. 

Drop in a few at a time; only so many as you can 
tend easily, and without crowding. Turn them over 
and over, as they brown, till they are of a perfect 
even crispness and color. Take them out with a 
skimmer, as finished, and lay them on a sieve or 
strainer that the fat may all drain off ; keep in a hot 
place till time to serve, then place on a hot dish, 
and send to table. 


MINCED SALT FISH. 


Prepare the fish the previous day, in the same 
manner as for fishballs. 

Boil fresh for the mincing enough potatoes to 
make nearly a quart, when chopped, to a pint of the 
fish, shredded and chopped. The potato should be 
in very small, even pieces, but not mashed. 

Mix the two together, lightly and evenly. 

Put half a cup of solid butter, with a half teaspoon- 
ful of salt, and a dust of pepper, into a large spider 
or deep frying-pan, and set on the fire till the butter 
melts. Then stir up with the seasoning, put in the 


UST HOW. III 


chopped fish and potato, and mix the whole with a 
knife. | 

Let it stand till it browns on the bottom, then stir 
up again. — 

Repeat this several times, till a brown crispness 
is broken and mingled pretty generally through all. 
Do not mash, or press it: keep it as light and sep- 
arate as you can. 

Pile on a side dish, and send hot to table. 


SCORCHED FISH. 


Tear off some small strips of the white part of salt 
fish. Wash and wipe it. Then shred it up, in long, 
thin slivers. Lay these on a tin plate, and set in a 
hot oven, on the top grating, if necessary ; let them 
brown till a/most burned. Turn them with a fork, 
that they may do evenly. They are a nice relish, 
nibbled from the fingers. 


SMOKED SALMON, OR HALIBUT. 


Cut a slice or strip, through the piece, as large 
as will be eaten. Wash it, rinsing it several times. 
Lay it in a pan, pour warm water to it, and set it 
where it will grow scalding hot. Let it remain so 
for half an hour or more, according to its newness. 
Recently smoked fish requires less time than old. 

About twenty minutes before it is wanted, take it 
out, wipe it dry, and put it in a wire broiler. Lay, 
or hold, it over the fire, which should be clear, as 
for toasting. 


112 ¥UST HOW. 


Turn it frequently, so as not to scorch. When 
done, it will have changed color all through: salmon 
from a deep red to a flesh pink, and halibut from a 
dark to a pale buff. You can judge from the color 
at the edges, allowing time for the same effect to 
reach the middle. This will vary with the size and 
thickness of the piece. | 

Serve plain. It does not need butter. 


BROILED SCROD, OR MACKEREL. 

*¢ Scrod”’ is a small codfish. 

Have your fish split down the back, and nicely 
cleaned. Sprinkle the inside with salt, and set in a 
cool place till you use it. Then wash off the salt 
with cold water. Wipe dry. 

Put it in a wire broiler ; turn the skin side to the 
fire first ; when well heated through, and the skin be- 
ginning to parch, turn it, and let the inside come to 
a delicate, even brown. Lift it from the fire, as it 
may require, to prevent scorching, and shift the posi- 
tion of the broiler to bring each part of the surface 
equally to the heat. 

Have a hot dish ready to lay it on, cut up bits of 
butter over it, and sprinkle well with salt, and slight- 
ly with pepper. Serve at once. | 


MINCED FRESH FISH. 
Fish that has been boiled the previous day, and 
left cold, makes a nice mince for breakfast. 
Pick it carefully over, rejecting all the skin, bone, 





FUST HOW. 113 


and very dark, oily part. Break up the nice flakes 
with afork. Take about an equal quantity of cold 
boiled potato, chopped, and mix the -fish with it, 
chopping it as you do so. It should all be pretty 
fine, but not mashed ; lightly mixed, not pasty. 

For a quart of the mince, put half a cup of broken 
butter in the frying-pan, sprinkle it with a teaspoon- 
ful of salt and a saltspoonful of pepper, set on the 
fire, and stir together till melted. Then put in the 
mince, and with a fork turn and mix it thoroughly 
with the butter. Keep it stirring till it is hot 
through, and then let it stand till it browns on the 
under side. 

Turn it under side up on a dish for the table. 


PICKLED FISH. 

Salmon is best. 

Take what is left, cold boiled, remove skin and 
bones, and lay in a whole piece upon a deep dish or 
in a bowl. 

Boil enough vinegar to cover it, putting in half a 
teaspoonful of mace, the same of clove, a saltspoon- 
ful of white pepper, and the same of allspice, to a 
quart of vinegar. Mix the spices together, and wet 
them with a little vinegar in a cup before stirring to 
the whole. 

Boil two or three minutes, keeping covered. 

Lay a bit of muslin in your gravy-strainer, set it 
over a pitcher, and strain the pickle. Pour it hot 
over the salmon, cover up, and set away. 

8 


114 ¥UST HOW. 


Prepared immediately after dinner, it will be fit to 
use at tea; but next day is still better. 


FRIED HAM. 


Cut slices over night to use for breakfast. Wash, 
and lay them in cold water to soak. In the morning 
turn off the cold water, put in a saucepan, pour on 
boiling water, cover, and set on the back of the 
stove, where it will keep at the scalding point, but 
not boil, while you make all your other breakfast 
preparations. 

When everything else is almost ready to serve, 
turn off the water, wipe the slices dry, set on a clean 
frying-pan, and lay them in. Tend and turn with a 
knife and fork, till just a little evenly browned on 
both sides and cooked through. Over a good fire, 
it will only take a few minutes. 

Baked potatoes are a good accompaniment. If 
you wish for fried eggs, see directions under that 
head. 

BROILED HAM. 

Prepare the slices in the same way, and broil in 
a wire broiler, not leaving it over the fire, but turn- 
ing and tending as you would toast bread. Do not 
brown too much. Take off as soon as cooked 
through, while pink and tender in the middle. 


FRIED SAUSAGES. 


Prick them all over with a darning-needle, not a 
Jork, and turn boiling water on them in a saucepan. 


FUST HOW. 115, 


Let them come to a boil over the fire, then take 
them out and wipe them dry. : 

Have ready on the fire a clean frying-pan with 
enough hot lard or pork fat in it to just cover the 
bottom. Put the sausages directly in, before they 
grow cold. Turn and shake in the pan, while cook- 
ing, to brown them evenly and keep from bursting. 
When well browned, they are done. They will take 
about ten minutes, but must not be hurried. 


ANOTHER WAY. 


With very nice, large—especially home made — 
sausages, you may put them as they are, after 
pricking them well, into a clean, dry frying-pan, 
and set it over the fire, closely covered, where it will 
heat slowly. This keeps their own steam in around 
them, and helps to cook them equally, and make 
them tender. Lift the cover now and then to turn 
them. 

BAKED SAUSAGE-CAKES,. 

Sausage-meat, made into small round cakes, is 
nice baked in the oven on a tin plate or pan. Keep 
in till browned. 


Sausages in skins may also be cooked in this 
manner, first pricking them as before directed. 


116 SUST HOW. 


SECTION III. 
RECIPES. 
PART IV.— SOUPS. 


GENERAL PRINCIPLES. 


Meat for soup should always be cut in small 
pieces, and bones sawed and broken up. To ac- 
complish this, the little meat-block, hatchet, and 
saw, suggested in Section II., will come in requisi- 
tion. 

For fresh-meat soups, allow one pound of meat to 
a quart of water in the making. 

For remnants of cooked meat, and bones, — cut 
the meat small, and chop the bones in pieces, as be- 
fore ; then pack meat and bones in your soup-kettle, 


and cover with twice the bulk of water: that is, if. 


your kettle is one third full, fill it almost to the brim 
with water. 

A small piece of ham, or a ham bone, or a part of 
the root of a boiled tongue— or, failing these, a 
small bit of nice salt pork, say two to three cubic 
inches —is a fine addition to strength and relish. 
If you make soup often, it is worth while to keep a 
ham on hand for the purpose. A piece, or pieces 
equal to the size of the bit of pork mentioned, is 
sufficient for an ordinary kettleful of soup. 

Soup should be calculated for, and made the day 
previous to use; the broth set away and the cake of 
fat removed from it when cold, before the second 


a 





FUST HOW. 117 


boiling. In this way, you may use your ends of 
roasts and other remnants without rejection of fatty 
parts, etc. The browned fat of a nice roast very 
much enriches the soup. All the grossness and 
refuse are got rid of in the careful straining and 
skimming, while the flavor remains. 

Always put cold water to your soup-meat. 

If the meat is fresh, let it stand just covered with 
water until the juice begins to draw and color it. 
Throw the pieces into water as you cut them up, 
that the juice may not waste, but begin at once to 
be extracted into the soup. Of course you take this 
measure of water, whatever it may be, into the ac- 
count in filling up. 

Always set your soup-kettle at the back of your 
‘stove or range, where it will warm very gradually ; 
when it has grown hot, you may allow it to come 
slowly to a gentle, steady boil, at which you must 
keep it, hour after hour, whatever length of time is 
required; having it well covered all the while. Do 
not let it boil furzously at all. 

When the meat is boiled juiceless, strain away. 


For seasonings, you may vary almost infinitely, 
from the simplest broth with only pepper and salt, 
to the rich, yet delicate soup which may have a /z¢¢/e 
of almost everything in it, provided nothing predom- 
inates. The best soups are those which have the 
least Javish, and yet most manzfold, spicing. 

I would not give exact measures in this specialty, 


118 ¥UST HOW. 


if I could; for you must educate your palate to nice 
tasting, if you wish to excel in soup. There is no 
branch of cookery in which the artist — or the bun- 
gler— is more clearly revealed. 

You want salt until it is “bright-tasting,’ but not 
saline ; you will find you can put in more, probably, 
than you expect, wzless when ham or salt pork has 
nearly or quite anticipated tt. Do not be afraid of it, 
but stop safely short of sea water. 

Use pepper, —a scatter at a time, —till it is just 
on the brink of pungency, but never over; you want 
a tone of warmth, but not a consciousness of pepper, 
separately. Those who like it can always add. 

So with spices. Try a pinch, or a half pinch, at 
a time, of each you mean to use, unless you know 
your quantity, and can boldly measure a beginning. 
Remember continually, that each flavoring must 
hide itself, and help all the rest. ; 

I will mention some of the all-sorts of things that 
may be used, in natural selection and artistic com- 
bination, in different soups. 

Salt, pepper, clove, mace, allspice, cayenne, — the 
tiniest possible quantity. 

Mustard, — either a pinch of the seeds, or a salt- 
spoonful or two of the powdered and made mustard. 

Aromatic seeds, — celery, caraway, etc. Celery 
salt——_a pulverized preparation of the seeds —is a 
fine and convenient condiment, recently introduced, 
for flavoring, and table use. 

Herbs: thyme, summer savory, sweet marjoram, 
bay leaves, mint. 


FUST HOW. EID) 


Curry ; orange peels, dried and pounded; lemon 
peel, or fresh sliced lemon. 

Catchups and sauces may be used, as general 
flavoring or finish. They are convenient, as the 
first name betokens. But if you make a charac- 
ter to your soup with your own combination from 
among the above-mentioned condiments, they will 
rarely be needed. 

Parmesan, or other old, rich, dry cheese, grated, 
is nice to serve with soup, to add at table. 

For drownz soups, in addition to salt and pepper, 
use the dark, rich spices, herbs, catchups, etc. 

For white soups, use mace, seeds, unsuspected 
curry, cream, etc. 

These are the distinctive uses: in dark soups, you 
are not restricted, but may combine from either list. 

Rice, sago, pearl barley, fine hominy, farina, ver- 
micelli, macaroni, are all nice additions to meat 
soups. 

Of either of the first three, take half a teacupful 
to three quarts of soup. Wash and soak; boil rice 
half to three quarters of an hour in the soup before 
serving. Sago fifteen minutes. (This will cook the 
sago; but if you wish to have it boil away to a fine 
gelatinous thickening, put it into the soup, —after 
washing and soaking, at the beginning of the second 
boiling.) 

Soak barley over night, or for some hours; boil 
by itself, in as little water as will answer, till ten- 
der ; add altogether to the soup at last. 


1m UST HOW. 

Vermicelli and macaroni should be broken small, 
and washed thoroughly; boiled in the soup half an 
hour. | : 

Hominy, — the finest samp, — and farina, do not 
need soaking ; only rinsing well in several waters, 
then to have a little of the hot soup stirred smoothly 
to them before they are added to the whole in the 
kettle; boil half an hour. 

Half to three quarters of an hour is time enough 
for the final boiling of a soup, for adding spice sea- 
sonings, and the above articles. It must be kept 
closely covered, and boil very gently, or it will be 
wasted away. 

THICKENING. 

If you wish to thicken a soup, that is to have none 
of the vegetable additions, wet a little corn-starch or 
arrowroot —two round teaspoonfuls of the former, 
or two scant ones of the latter, to a quart of soup 
— smoothly with cold water, and stir in toward the 
end of the boiling, first dipping some of the boiling 
soup to the cold thickening, gradually, and mixing 
it evenly; if you use flour, it will take three round 
teaspoonfuls to a: quart. 

Arrowroot thickens with the least proportion to 
any liquid; corn-starch is between this and flour in 
thickening quality. 

I give you here a safe quantity to begin with; if 
the soup is not then to your liking, prepare more 
thickening, and add as you judge needful. 

I do not find, in my own experience, that drowned 


¥UST HOW. 121 


flour really thickens; so at least as to answer fora 
sole dependence, or where a perfect, smooth, com- 
binimg thickening is needed. The starchy property 
has been taken from it in the browning, and it 
merely mixes mechanically with the liquid, settling 
to the bottom if left to stand. 

I think it better to thicken soups and gravies with 
unscorched flour, and to color, when necessary, with 
a little carefully burned sugar afterward. This may 
be prepared by simply half-filling a large, iron, long- 
handled spoon with sugar, and resting the bowl of 
it on the hot stove until the sugar melts, boils, and 
darkens, keeping a fork or skewer, or the like, at 
hand to stir it down from the edges into the centre, 
which will boil and burn first. When it is evenly 
done, plunge the spoon, with its contents, into the 
gravy to be thickened, and stir in. 

For a large quantity of soup, put some sugar on 
the fire in a little tin or iron vessel not otherwise 
valuable, and melt and stir in the same way. 

A tablespoonful of sugar will melt down into col- 
oring sufficient for a quart of soup. 

For some dishes, baked fish, for instance, as will 
be seen hereafter, with the gravy from the pan, a 
little browned flour answers very well in the fin- 
ishing. 

TO BROWN FLOUR. 

Put it, sifted, into a pan, set it on the stove, and 
stir it constantly, scraping it up carefully from the 
bottom whenever it begins in the least to stick, 


122 YUST HOW. 


Turn, scatter, and mix it, as it darkens, to get it 
perfectly even. It must not be durned, When of 
a nice brown color, well darkened, but not black, it 
is done. . 

You can make it in quantity beforehand, and keep 
it in a small tin canister for use when wanted. 

For brown, thin soup, that will not be colored by 
spices in the seasoning, — begin by /fryzmg out a 
few slices of salt pork in your kettle; then frying 


two or three sliced onions in the fat; then brown- 


ing nicely some slices or bits of the meat to be 
used ; then proceed with your juice-drawn meat and 
cold water, as before, adding the crisped pork, and 
browned meat and onions, with the first boiling. 
See “Amber Soup.” 

The simplest elementary soup is — 


BEEF TEA. 


Trim all fat, gristle, and membrane from your meat. 

Cut it in very small bits, a quarter-inch cube, if 
you have time. Do this with a sharp knife, upon a 
board, or keep a strong, sharp pair of scissors for it. 

Put the pieces in a bowl or jar, which you can 
cover closely. 

Put enough cold water in to just come up in sight 
between the bits. 

Let it stand cold, till the water begins to grow 
red and the meat pale. Then set it in a warm place, 
at the back corner of the stove, or on a funnel-drum, 
or over a closed kettle of boiling water, and keep it 


JUST HOW. 123 


there until the juice of the beef is all drawn out. 
You can then let it heat more positively for a min- 
ute or two, just to take the rawness from the flavor, 
but not to separate, or coagulate, the juice. 

Put a little salt in it, as may be liked. 

This way is expeditious, makes a larger quantity 
from the same meat, and is of equal quality to that 
prepared in a stopped jar, without the cold water, 
or with scarcely any, and placed in a kettle of cold 
water which is brought to a boil around it, and kept 
boiling for hours. 

The thing of great importance is, to let the meat 
stand in the water, co/d, as long as your time will 
allow. The drawing of the juices in this way is the 
secret of fine meat tea, or soup making. From this, 
therefore, I pass to — 


DRAWN SOUP. 


In my general directions, I have given the princi- 
ples of a general method, applicable to the making 
of all kinds of soups, from all kinds of soup mate- 
rial. The very Jest soup, or foundation for a soup, 
however, is that made from rich, juicy meat, beef 
especially, in the way of a magnified beef tea, for 
which I will here give the process. 

Take four pounds of the round of nice beef, cut 
by the butcher in slices, through the bone; trim 
away all the fat and gristle, scrupulously. 

Cut the clear lean of the beef into narrow strips, 
and then into dice dzts, with a small, sharp knife. 


124 | YUST HOW. 


Put the pieces, as you cut them, into a bowl or 
kettle with four quarts of fresh, cold water. When 
all done, cover, and let stand four hours, cold, to 
draw. 

An hour and a quarter before serving, put the 
kettle on a quick fire. Put in with the soup the 
pieces of the bone. Let it come to a steady boil. 

In three quarters of an hour, season with three 
teaspoonfuls of salt, three light sprinkles of pepper, 
a saltspoonful of mace or grated nutmeg, a pinch of 
allspice, an onion sliced in slivers, and half a lemon 
in slices. 

Boil ten or fifteen minutes longer, and strain into 
the tureen. 

The quantity of soup should have boiled down 
from four quarts to three. 

This is precisely the best and surest form of soup 
that I know anything about. 


MUTTON BROTH. 


A pound of meat for a quart of water. 

Trim off the fat and gristle. 

Cut up as small as you conveniently can ; break- 
ing up the bones. 

Pack meat and bones in your soup-kettle, cover 
with cold water, and let it stand till the juice begins | 
to draw. Fill up then with the required measure of 
cold water, and set on the fire to warm gradually. 

When it comes to a steady simmering boil, keep 
itso. Allow three hours. If to be eaten same 
day, skim carefully. Keep covered. 


GUST HOW. 125 


Have some rice ready, washed and soaked. Use 
a teacupful for six quarts of soup. For the same 
quantity, two fair-sized onions, cut in thin, trans- 
verse slices. 

When within three quarters of an hour of serv- 
ing, put rice and onions in. When they have boiled 
twenty minutes or so, begin to salt and pepper, cau- 
tiously, and /aste your broth to its finish. 

The merest dust of curry powder may be added to 
the pepper, which it assists, remember, in its hot 
quality, and will give an aromatic flavor. 

- Or a teaspoonful of celery seed, or celery salt, 
may be used instead. 

Or you may throw in a few sprigs or chopped 
leaves of fresh mint. | 

A broth must be kept simple and delicate, but not 
insipid. 

Keep well stirred, after the rice is in. 


CHICKEN BROTH. 


Cut up your chicken, which must be perfectly 
cleaned ; separate all joints ; carve meat from bones ; 
and break up the body bones. Remove all excess- 
ive fat. 

Pack meat and bones in a nice kettle; just cover 
the meat with cold water, and let stand till the juice 
begins to draw. Fill up with cold water till the 
meat makes one third of the depth in the kettle. 

Cover closely, and set where it will heat gradu- 
ally. Bring to a slow boil, and continue very slowly 


126 YUST HOW. 


for an hour and a half, skimming off superfluous fat. 
A moderate quantity is needed and will be taken up 
with the rice. Prepare meanwhile a heaping table- 
spoonful of rice for every quart of soup ; wash and 
soak it. . 

At the time mentioned, take the broth from the 
fire, strain it through a colander, or vegetable sifter, 
return the broth to the kettle, put in the ricé, and 
set on the fire. 

As quickly as possible, pick out all the nice pieces 
of meat from among the bones, cut them up small, 
but not fine, carefully rejecting all gristle and un- 
eatable parts, and return to the soup. 

When it has boiled—always gently, and closely 
covered —for half an hour longer, salt sufficiently, 
and pepper delicately. You may add a pinch of 
powdered mace. Just before dishing for table, stir 
in a little nice cream, a dessert-spoonful to a quart. 


BEEF SOUP. 


Prepare your stock the day before, according to 
general directions. When the meat has been gently 
boiling two hours, add to it — for, say, a two-gallon 
kettle originally nearly full of meat and liquor — 
one large, or two small carrots, cut in slices. — One 
turnip, cut small. — One coffee-cup full of chopped 
white cabbage. — Six fresh tomatoes, sliced, or a 
small can of sealed ones. — Three common sized 
onions, sliced. 

Cover tight and boil, always gently, as slowly as 


YUST HOW. 127 


possible without stopping, two hours more, or until 
the meat is juiceless, and the vegetables well boiled 
up. Then strain and set away. 

The next day, skim the fat off, pour the soup 
through a fine strainer into the kettle an hour be- 
fore dinner. Cover it close, and let it come to a 
boil. Season with salt, unless ham or other salt 
meat has been used in the first boiling, so as to ren- 
der it unnecessary ; pepper, mace, clove, added cau- 
tiously ; a pinch of curry; a teaspoonful of celery 
salt ; at the very last a lemon sliced thin, and put in 
in time for only one boil-up. Have three or four 
eggs boiled hard, and cut in bits in the tureen into 
which you pour the soup for table. Stir, and serve. 


AMBER SOUP. 


Ten or twelve pounds of shin beef, cut up small 
and the bones broken in pieces. Cover with cold 
water, and let stand. Reserve enough to cut up in 
small bits that will make two good handfuls. 

Put three or four thin slices of nice salt pork into 
-apan, and fry them out crisp. Take out the pork 
and put three or four sliced onions into,the fat, and 
brown them carefully. 

Take out the onions and put in the reserved bits 
of beef, and cook them until very brown and crisp, 
but not burned. Keep the fat hot, but not in dan- 
ger of scorching, at any stage of the process. To 
this end, do not keep it over the hottest part of the 
fire after it is once tried out. 


128 YUST HOW. 


Put pork, onions, and browned meat into a large 
kettle with the rest of the meat and bones. Add, 
as in beef soup, a couple of sliced carrots, a turnip ~ 
cut small, a cupful of chopped cabbage, half a dozen 
stalks of fresh celery cut small, a few bay leaves. 
Pack down, fill up with water, a quart to a pound of 
meat, or by measure in the kettle as by previous 
directions. Cover, and set where it will heat grad- 
ually. 

Boil very slowly a long time, certainly five or six 
hours, keeping the steam in. It should not boil 
away more than one half. Strain, and set away. 

Next day, skim. Pour through a fine strainer 
into soup-kettle, and put on the fire an hour before 
dinner. Stir in the whites and broken shells of two 
or three eggs, to clear it. As the scum boils up, 
take it off. 

Season with pepper and salt, a little mace, and 
a glass of brown sherry or brandy.1 The broken 
rind of an orange, or a tablespoonful of dried and 
pounded peel, and a few slices of lemon may be put 
in, in this last boiling. 

Strain into your tureen just in time to serve. 


WHITE SOUP. 
Veal, or chicken, is the usual and most suitable 


meat for white soup; but you may make it partly or 


1 You may substitute a tablespoonful or more of Worcestershire 
sauce, — or two tablespoonfuls of spiced vinegar, such as is used for 
pickling, mixed with one of vinegar syrup from “ sweet pickle.” 


YUST HOW. 129 


wholly of other meat, if the broth be clear and per- 
fectly strained. A small piece of lean ham is always 
a good addition. 

Prepare stock asin general directions ; cutting up 
an onion, and putting in half a teaspoonful of celery 
seed or a seasoning of celery salt, with a six-quart 
boil of material, solid and liquid; boiling five or six 
hours for veal or heavy meat, two or three only for 
chicken, very slowly ; straining carefully, and taking 
every bit of fat off from the cold jelly next day. 

Put on again three quarters of an hour before 
dinner on the day of serving. 

Season with salt, — always according to other 
salting material, — pepper, and mace; making it of 
a very delicate flavor. 

For three quarts of liquor, take a round table- 
spoonful of solid, or half a teacupful of broken but- 
ter; cream it perfectly; beat into it a heaping table- 
spoonful of flour, or two heaping teaspoonfuls of 
corn-starch ; put a coffee-cup full of cream into a 
nice little saucepan over the fire, and when it comes 
to a boil pour it gradually to your butter and flour, 
stirring well; then pour all into the boiling soup. 
Do this five minutes before serving ; it should just 
boil up thoroughly, once, after adding the cream. 

The yolks of three eggs beaten very light, and 
stirred into the butter, flour, and creamy before add- 
ing these to the soup, make it richer and more de- 
licious. 

9 


130 YUST HOW. 


PEA SOUP. 


Soak a quart of split peas in cold water over 
night. 

Turn off the water early in the morning, put to 
them six quarts of fresh cold water, and set them on 
the fire. 

Cut a square off a strip of nice salt pork, say five 
inches, scrape and wash it, and put into the pot. 

Let all come toa gentle boil, and’ keep boiling, 
closely covered, all the forenoon. 

Stir down occasionally, scraping the boiled peas 
from the sides of the pot into the soup. 

If slowly and steadily boiled, and the peas good, 
it will seldom need straining ; if, however, within 
one hour of serving, it is not becoming smooth and 
fine, strain it through a colander or wire sieve, mash- 
ing the peas through, and scraping them well from 
the under side. Return to the kettle, and boil till 
dinner time. 

Season with pepper, judiciously ; with a teaspoon- 
ful of celery seed, or celery salt, to taste. 


TURTLE-BEAN SOUP. 


Soak a quart of beans twenty-four hours. 

Proceed as with pea soup. 

Season in like manner; or, if you wish a mock- 
turtle flavoring, use mixed condiments, finishing 
with hard-boiled eggs and sliced lemon ; following 
recipe for rich beef soup. | 


FUST HOW. 131 


Or, you may prepare aclear beef-soup liquor, add- 
ing a square of salt pork in the first boiling; then, 
having soaked your beans as above, boil them in the 
meat broth the second day, and season like beef or 
amber soup. a 

VEGETABLE SOUPS. 

Generally are but soup-stock, brown or white, 
boiled over with the addition of a single vegetable, 
in quantity, or a mixed variety, in small proportion 
of each. 

RULES. 

Add to three quarts, an average quantity, of boil- 
ing soup liquor :— 

For green pea soup: Shelled peas, three scant 
pints. Boil three quarters of an hour, with half a 
dozen sprigs of fresh mint. Strain; rubbing all the 
substance of the peas well through. Return to the 
kettle and the fire. © Cream two tablespoonfuls of 
butter. Put, gradually, a few spoonfuls of the soup 
to it, mixing it smooth; then stir all into the soup. 
Season, slightly, with pepper; salt, if needed. 

For tomato soup: One quart tomato sauce, made 
as in recipe for “ Macaroni and Tomato.” Season 
with pepper and salt; or add condiments, as in beef 
soups, to the stock tee first, boiling enough to 
season before adding the tomato. Boil up Once 
after this is put in. 

For asparagus soup: Three bunches of asparagus, 
the tender part only, cut small. Boil half an hour; 
strain or not, as you prefer. If strained, mash the 


132 JUST HOW. 


asparagus through the colander. Season with salt 
and pepper. Cream two tablespoonfuls of butter, 
stirring in a heaping teaspoonful of corn-starch, and 
add to the soup as in pea soup. 

For sweet corn soup: White soup stock, One 
quart fresh-boiled corn, taken nicely from the cob, 
by scoring the rows with a sharp knife, and scrap- 


ing out all the pulp of the corn. Season with pep- 


per and salt. Finish with creamed butter, and corn- 
starch thickening as in preceding recipe, adding a 
cup of cream before you take it from the fire. 

Succotash soup: May be made as above, with equal 
parts of fresh-boiled corn, scraped from the cob, 
and any nice garden beans boiled tender, and added 
with the corn to the soup stock. Same seasoning, 
‘thickening, etc.— In winter, either soup, of corn or 
beans, or both together, may be made in same way 
with the canned vegetables. 


MIXED VEGETABLE SOUP. 
_ For three quarts soup liquor, prepare: One mid- 
dling-sized carrot, one turnip, one parsnip; these 
washed, scraped, and chopped small. — One pint of 
chopped white cabbage. — One of celery. — Two 
sliced onions. —One quart of stewed or canned 
tomatoes. 


Boil the carrot, turnip, and parsnip together, in 
just water enough to keep them well covered for 
about an hour, or until quite tender and soft. Set 
them on, cold, an hour and a half before dinner. 


eS 


GUST HOW. 133 


Put on the soup-kettle, with the liquor, the 
chopped cabbage, celery, and onions, an hour before 
dinner. In half an hour, put in the tomato, made 
into smooth sauce, as for tomato soup. 

When the carrot, etc., is ready, add it also, with 
the water used in boiling, which should not now be 
more than a mixing for the fine, softened vegetable. 

Add salt and pepper, as may be required, to the 
seasoning already supplied by the prepared tomato 
sauce. 

You can vary your vegetables in such a soup, ac- 
cording to your own taste and convenience. I 
merely give you an example recipe. 


POTATO PUREE. 


Prepare and boil a dish of good potatoes, as for 
serving plain. 

Chop an onion very fine, and boil in a small sauce- 
pan, with a saltspoonful of pepper and a saltspoon- 
ful of mace, or more of grated nutmeg. 

Mash the potatoes, and rub them through a vege- 
table-sifter. 

Stir in the boiled and seasoned onion, water and 
all. 

Add a teaspoonful of salt, and the same of celery 
salt. 

Now pour boiling water to it, stirring all the time, 
till you make it of the consistence of a thick gruel, 
— almost a porridge. 

Cream half a cup of butter; stir and beat with it 


134 YOST HOW. 


the yolk of an egg; then add gradually and smoothly 
a cup of cream. 

Set the purée on the fire, and stir in carefully the 
butter, egg, and cream. 

Stir till it boils up well; then serve. 


DUMPLINGS, FOR SOUP OR STEW. 


Made by recipe for “Cream-tartar Biscuit,” cut 
out in very small cakes, rather thick, so as to puff 
up into ball-shape in the cooking. 

Roll them lightly with your hands over a floured 
board, that the outsides may be slightly coated; lay 
a folded cloth in the steamer, place the balls upon it, 
and cover them with another. Set the steamer over 
the boiling soup, keep it closely covered, and let it 
be absolutely undisturbed for the last half hour of 
the boiling of the soup. In order to this, the sea- 
soning of the soup must have been completed, ex- 
cept any addition to be made at the actual taking 
up, before putting on the dumplings. 

Of course, the boiling must not check for an in- 
stant after the steaming begins. Everything de- 
pends on this steady, complete steaming, without 
the least exposure to the air. | 


SIMPLE STEWS. 
A stew differs from a soup, in that there is nota 
vrevious making and straining. The meat is left in, 
and the vegetables cooked with it, and there is only 


enough gravy made in the stewing to cover it all 


generously when done. 


¥UST HOW. 135 


Cookery books ordinarily tell us to “cover with 
water, and add as it boils away,’ but I prefer to put 
twice as much water as will cover, and then let it 
boil away slowly, leaving the solid ingredient cov- 
ered in the end. For an 


IRISH STEW. 


Cut up beef or mutton, first nicely trimmed of all 
fat, gristle, and sinew, in small pieces; bits no larger 
than an English walnut. Cover, twice deep, with 
cold water, and set at once upon the fire. 

When it boils, put it where it will only gently and 
steadily simmer. Keep it so, until the meat begins 
to be tender. An-hour will do. 

Slice some onion, say one onion to every two 
pounds of meat. Put this in; sprinkle in, gradu- 
ally, a seasoning of pepper and salt, and if you like, 
a little mace; tasting your broth as you do so until 
right. Cover close, and stew another hour. 

Meanwhile prepare your potatoes,— as many as 
will cut up in similar sized bits to an equal quantity 
with the meat, — by paring and boiling them sepa- 
rately, then cutting them as just mentioned. 

Put these in at the end of the second hour, stir all 
together, cover, and let boil up. 

For a stew of about three quarts altogether, take 
a heaping teaspoonful of flour, and mix it to a 
smooth thickening (see “ Thickening”) with cream. 
Stir this in evenly, and boil up. Use, or add if not 
used, half a cup of cream in all. It will now be 
ready to dish. 


136 JUST HOW. 


Beef, mutton, veal, or lamb stew, may be made in 
the same way, with any nice vegetables added, as 
in simple or mixed vegetable soups, — which see. 

The hard vegetables, as carrots, turnips, etc., 
should be put to boil with the meat, from the first ; 
onions, cabbage, and potatoes, later; tender and 
juicy ones, as tomatoes and canned vegetables, may 
be cooked in their own liquor, separately, and added 
to the stew toward the last. 


WHITE VEAL STEW, 


With butter and cream thickening, —as below, — 
and nicely boiled cawlzfiower cut up and added to it 
just at last, is very delicate. Season only with pep- 
per, salt, and mace. 


BUTTER AND CREAM THICKENING, FOR STEW OR FRICASSEE. 


Half a cup of solid butter, beaten to a cream, — 
Two heaping teaspoonfuls of flour, beaten in, with 
any spice intended for seasoning. — One cup of 
cream, scalded in a nice small saucepan. 


Stir the hot cream gradually to the creamed but- 
ter and flour. 

To be added to the gravy, in completion, and 
boiled up. 

This ts the basis of all white soups and sauces. 


1 Of course, the quantity of flour must vary somewhat with the 
quantity and quality of gravy to be thickened. This is an average 
measure. See “ White” and “Oyster” soup, and compare. 


JUST HOW. 137 


FRICASSEES 


Are made by similar process to the last two stews, 
except that no vegetables are used. 

A white fricassee is a stew, without vegetables, 
with a butter and cream thickening ; seasoning, salt, 
pepper, and mace. 

A brown fricassee is a stew, without vegetables, 
finished with a fry, in pork fat or butter. A gravy 
being made of the broth and fat together, thickened 
with browned flour, and poured over the meat. 

Either veal or chicken may be made into fricas- 
see. For instance :— 


BROWN FRICASSEE OF CHICKEN. 


Cut up a good sized, nicely cleaned chicken, sep- 
arating all the joints, and taking the meat from the 
breast-bone in a few pieces. Also, carefully cut 
and draw off as much of the skin as you readily can 
from each piece. 

Pack into a nice stew-pan ; cover well with warm 
water. Very cold water would draw the juice too 
much; boiling water would toughen the meat. 
Cover, and set on the fire; let it come to a gentle 
boil, or steady simmer, and continue so for twenty 
minutes. 

Meanwhile, fry out two or three thin slices of salt 
pork in a pan until crisp ; also, while attending this, 
mix a cupful of cream gradually to three teaspoon- 
fuls of flour, for thickening. This will serve for a 
quart, cream and all. 


138 GUST HOW. 


Take your pieces of pork from the frying-pan. 

Take your pieces of chicken from the boiling 
water ; remove all remainder of skin, and whatever 
bones are easily separated ; wipe the pieces dry, one 
by one, roll them in flour, so as just to dust them 
over, and lay them into the pork fat; turn and fry 
till of a delicate light brown. As they are done lay 
them in a hot dish, cover, and keep hot over a ket- 
tle. Keep the water the chicken was boiled in hot 
also. 

Put the chicken-tea into the pork fat. Stir to- 
gether, and let boil. 

Turn your thickened cream gradually to the boil- 
ing gravy; stir perfectly smooth. Sprinkle in sea- 
soning of pepper and mace; salt, if needed. Taste 
and make right. 

If not dark brown as you wish, burn a teaspoon- 
ful of sugar, as directed in coloring for soups, and - 
stir in. Put the pieces of chicken into the gravy; 
boil up. Dish and serve with gravy poured over 
the meat. 

VEAL FRICASSEE. 

In the same way, using a quantity of veal equal 
to a good sized chicken. 

Allow a longer time, however, for the veal to par- 
boil tender. Let it be perfectly so before you take 
it from the water. Give it half an hour or more, as 
if done sooner it can stand. Always stew slowly. 


Fresh pork fricassee may be made in the same 


| ‘¥UST HOW. 139 


way, using a little fine sage, instead of mace, in the 
seasoning. Parboil as long, or longer, than veal. 


WHITE FRICASSEE OF VEAL OR CHICKEN. 


_ Stew the meat in the same way as previously di- 
rected, using a little more water than will well cover, 
as you will have no additional gravy. 

Prepare “Cream and Butter Thickening,” with 
seasoning, as by foregoing recipe. A teaspoonful of 
salt, a pinch of pepper, and a saltspoonful of mace, 
are a fair guess for a beginning. You can always 
add before dishing. 

When the meat is quite cooked and tender, take 
out as before, and thicken the broth. Put back the 
meat, and boil up. 


OYSTER SOUP. 


Make ready: One quart of solid oysters, freed 
from sand or shell. To be sure of this, take them 
up, one by one, with a fork, and strip them with the 
finger and thumb. Strain whatever liquor comes 
from the oysters, and add to it water, well salted, to 
taste like oyster liquor, enough to make two quarts, 
This may be boiling water, and you may set it at 
once upon the fire. — Half a cup of solid butter, 
creamed. — One very heaping tablespoonful of flour, 
beaten with the creamed butter. — Two scant salt- 
spoonfuls of pepper, and two full ones of mace, 
stirred with the butter and flour. — One cup of 
cream, or the best milk you can get. 


140 SUST HOW. 


Thicken the boiling water, smoothly, with the 
butter and flour. Add seasoning, if needed. 

Boil up again, and put in the oysters. Boil till 
their edges are well curled. 

Add the cream, and boil up. 

Serve. 

FISH CHOWDER. 

Make ready: Four or five pounds of any hard, 
white fish ; haddock, bass, cod, sword-fish; cut in 
small slices, and freed from bone and skin. — Three 
or four slices of salt pork fried out, crisp, in the 
chowder kettle. — Two onions sliced and fried brown 
in the fat. — Two or three more onions, sliced, raw. 
— Eight common sized potatoes, boiled and sliced. 
—A dozen soft, or butter crackers, split. 


Take the fried onions out of the fat. Leave only 
fat enough to just cover, say wet, the bottom of the 
kettle. 

Put in a layer of fish; a layer of sliced potatoes ; 
sprinkle some of the onion, both fried and raw, upon 
the potatoes ; a “scatter’’ of pepper ; a careful pinch 
of salt, as the pork will help to salt it ; another layer 
of fish, potatoes, onions ; the pepper and salt again; 
go on until the materials are half used, taking care 
to proportion the layers so that all may hold out to- 
cether. 

When half is used, scatter in a few small-cut bits 
or strips of the crisped pork, and cover with a layer 
of half crackers, inside down. Do the same when 





—— ~~ ai 


a 


YUST HOW. 141 


the remainder of the chowder is layered in, putting 
the split crackers over all. 

You may butter the crackers, or not, as you pre- 
fer. 

You may butter and cvzsp them, previously, as 
directed for ‘‘crisped crackers.” These variations 
are points of taste. 

Cover once and a half deep with cold water, and 
set on where it will come to a boil. Boil gently and 
steadily one hour, keeping it where it will not burn. 

Pour in a cup of cream, and stir carefully, just be- 
fore it is done. ; 

Having used salt very cautiously, taste and see if 
more is needed. 

Be careful also with pepper, and add that, if re- 
quired. 


When you have not cream, it will certainly be well 
to butter the crackers. Use the best of the milk, at 
any rate. 

CLAM CHOWDER. 

Same way: using clams instead of fish. Save all 
the clam liquor to help fill up with water in the ket- 
tle. Also, cut off the “eather straps,’ when you 
trim the clams, and put them, not in the chowder, 
but in a saucepan, with just enough water to boil 
them, by themselves. Add the broth thus gained to 
the chowder before taking up. Heads, of course, 
have been thrown away. 


me. ¥UST HOW. 


To open clams, wash them clean, put them in a 
large pan or pot, with enough boiling water just to 
prevent from boiling dry and burning. <A couple of 
quarts are enough for a bucket of clams. 

Cover them closely, that.the steam may be kept 


in. As soonas they are well opened, take them off. . 


Fifteen minutes will cook them, for serving as 
plain boiled clams. 

Dish up, and help as they are, in the shells. 

Season with pepper, as you eat them, with lemon 
juice or vinegar. 


STEWED CLAMS, OR CLAM SOUP. 


Prepare the clams as for clam chowder. Liquor 
and “leather straps” to be made use of in same way. 
Proceed precisely as with oyster soup. 


MACARONI AND TOMATO. 


I close the present division with this dish, as a 
very nice one to serve in place of soup. It is also 
a very satisfactory lunch dish, by itself. Break up, 
not small, enough macaroni to one third fill, dry, 
your soup-tureen. Rinse, and soak in cold water 
one hour. 

Make ready one quart of fresh tomatoes scalded, 
skinned, and cut up; or one can of sealed tomatoes. 
Boil in a covered saucepan ten minutes. 

Have a large kettle of boiling water for your mac- 
aroni. All starchy things, as macaroni, rice, pota- 
toes, should be boiled in much water. Throw in 


oF Pe: 

%, as 

, . 125 

a oe ee 


Ee eee 


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FUST HOW. 143 


two tablespoonfuls of salt to three or four quarts 
of water. 

Put the macaroni in, to boil twenty minutes, or 
until tender. 

Cream a half cupful of solid butter, and beat into 
it two heaping teaspoonfuls of flour. 

Strain the boiled tomato, pressing all but skin 
and seeds through the strainer. Return to the pan 
and boil again. ; 

Stir in the butter thickening to the tomato ; boil 
smooth ; season with salt and pepper. 

Take the boiled macaroni out into a colander. 
When drained, put into the tureen. 

Serve the tomato sauce in a smaller tureen or 
gravy-boat. 

Help the macaroni in soup-plates, and pour over 
each plateful enough of the sauce to dress it. 

Grated Parmesan cheese may also be offered 
with it. 


SECTION III. 


RECIPES. 
FART V.. FISH. 


TO BOIL. 


Codfish, halibut, or any large, solid white fish, may 
be laid in cold salted water from half an hour to an 
hour before cooking. 

Salmon, blue-fish, bass, salmon-trout, need not be 
so treated. 


144 FUST HOW. 


The rule for time in boiling fish is a quarter of 
an hour to a pound. Codfish boils a little more 
quickly than this; four to six pounds will cook in 
three quarters of an hour. é 

Fish should be perfectly cleaned and scaled. Get 
your fisherman to do this as well as he will, and then 
wash the inside and scrape the skin with a knife- 
edge, to make quite sure. 

Wipe dry with a clean towel before putting on to 
cook. 

Dredge with flour, wrap in a clean cloth, and sew 
or tie firmly. 

Put into the kettle with cold water enough to 
abundantly cover it, and throw in a tablespoonful 
of salt. 

Let it come to a boil, and then boil uninterrupt- 
edly till done. 

Give it the allowance of time, and then try with a 
sharp-pointed knitting-needle. If it runs into the 
fish easily, you may take it off. 

Open the cloth on a sieve or strainer, and roll the 
fish carefully out. Let it drain a minute or two, and 
then turn upon a folded napkin, and lay altogether 
upon the dish for the table. 


BUTTER SAUCE FOR BOILED FISH. 


One cupful of butter, beaten to a cream. — One 
round tablespoonful of flour, beaten in, with two full 
saltspoonfuls of salt. 

Make these ready while the fish is boiling. Also, 





Z 


—— 


EE 


FUST HOW. 145 


boil two eggs ten minutes, drop them in cold water, 
shell them, and chop them small but not fine, and 
put into the sauce-tureen. 

Just before you dish the fish, turn a cupful of boil-. 
ing water upon the creamed butter and flour, and stir 
over the fire until it thickens smoothly, just coming 
to the boiling point. 

Let it stand where it will keep hot, but not boil, 
or turn oily, while the fish is dished. Then pour 
your sauce upon the chopped egg in the tureen, stir 
together, and send in. 


BAKED FISH. 
I. A ROAST-BAKE WITH STUFFING. 


Bass, blue-fish, shad, etc., may be cooked in this 
way. 

Prepare by cleaning, washing in salted water, wip- 
ing, as for boiled fish. 

Make a stuffing, by directions for roast-meat dress- 
ing, fill the body of the fish, and sew up. Lay ina 
baking-pan, with butter, hot water, and salt, in the 
proportion of a dessert-spoonful of butter and a 
saltspoonful of salt, to a cup of boiling water. Cover 
the pan to the depth of half an inch. 

Baste with this gravy often and well; as often, 
say, as once in ten minutes. Often enough not to 
let the skin of the fish blister or burn. Keep up 
your supply of basting-gravy if it boils away, by 
adding boiling water and butter and salt, in like 


proportions as at first. 
Io 


146 ¥UST HOW. 


Cook forty minutes, then dredge with flour, and | 


let the flour brown on. When browned, baste care- 
fully with the gravy, and dredge again. Brown 
again, and baste again lightly. This will probably 
consume the hour prescribed for cooking. Try the 
fish with a knitting-needle ; if tender through, it is 
done. The appearance, however, will very nearly 
assure you even if inexperienced. It is not like boil- 
ing fish, which is wrapped away out of your sight. 

Baked fish, when finished, should havea handsome 
brown crust. 

Before it is ready, cream a tablespoonful of butter, 
with a teaspoonful of browned flour, a pinch of pep- 
per, and a pinch of salt. 

Take the fish up carefully with a spade or fish- 
slice, — one in each hand if needed, — and slide it 
nicely on the dish for serving. Cover and keep hot 
while you — 

Turn a little hot water to your prepared butter ; 
set the baking-pan over the fire, with what remains 
of the basting-gravy in it. Scrape up the browned 
flour and scraps from the bottom, boil up, add your 
thickened butter, stir in well, and boil up once again. 
Strain the gravy over the fish. 


Another way. — Treat in each respect as above, 
only use sufficient water and butter merely to keep 
the fish smooth-basted, and from burning. Allow 
nothing for gravy. 

When the fish is dished and covered, melt a small 


EE 


FUST HOW. 147 


cup of broken butter in a little saucepan, stirring all 
the time. As soon as melted, turn into a sauce- 
boat, and stir in a saltspoonful of salt and one of 
pepper. Help this as a gravy with the fish. 


II. BOIL-BAKE WITH SAUCE-GRAVY. 


Treat in this manner halibut, cusk, sword-fish ; or 
bass, blue-fish, shad, etc., wzthourt stuffing. 

Prepare by washing and wiping as in previous 
directions. 

Halibut, cusk, sword-fish, or any large, solid white 
fish, may be laid in cold salted water beforehand, 
an hour or more. 

Bake and baste, as in the roasting recipe; but 
with water, salt, and butter only, omitting the dredg- 
ing with flour. Baste very often, keeping the fish 
moist and tender, skin and all. It must be smooth 
and wzparched, to the end. 

Keep up your supply of basting-gravy, in same 
proportions of material. 

Make ready, while the fish is cooking, a table- 
spoonful of butter, creamed, with a tablespoonful of 
browned flour beaten in, a pinch of salt, and a pinch 
of pepper. Have ready the strained juice of a lemon, 
and a teaspoonful of Worcestershire sauce. 

Take up the fish as before directed; cover, and 
keep hot. 

Set the baking-pan on the fire, turn a little boil- 
ing water to your butter and flour, and stir in as the 
gravy boils up. Add the lemon-juice and sauce; 
boil up, and pour into a sauce-tureen. 


148 YUST HOW. < 

Baked salmon: In same way, except that wn- 
browned flour, or arrowroot, wet smoothly with cold 
water and stirred directly into the boiling gravy, 
is used instead of the browned flour and butter. 
ILemon-juice, and Worcestershire sauce, as before. 

Wine is added to the sauce, by those who desire 
and approve ; but it is very good without. 


III.—A BOIL-BAKE, WITH CREAM DRESSING. 


For trout, pickerel, lake whitefish, etc. 

Bake and baste, as previously directed, having 
just sufficient water and butter to keep the skin of 
the fish smooth, moist, unscorched. Provide no 
surplus for gravy; but make, instead, the cream 
dressing by the following recipe, and pour it over 
the fish, which should be laid in a long, deep dish. 


CREAM BUTTER SAUCE; FOR FISH AND OTHER DISHES. 


Make ready: Half a cup of solid butter, beaten 
to a cream, in a small bowl. — A teaspoonful of ar- 
rowroot, or corn-starch, or a heaping one of fine 
sifted flour, beaten in. — Two saltspoonfuls of salt. 
— One saltspoonful of powdered mace. — A cupful 
of boiling water. — A cupful of cream, made hot in 
a porcelain-lined saucepan. 


Stir the salt and mace with the butter and flour. — 

Turn the cupful of boiling water to it, stirring 
smoothly. 

Pour all to the hot cream in the saucepan, stir 





¥UST HOW. 149 


well, and set on the fire, conti 
ened. : 

A less measure of cream will do, especially if you 
do not need so large a quantity of sauce. _A third 
of a cupful is very good; even a tablespoonful will 
make a tolerable dressing. The only other varia- 
tion, in such case, would be in the measure of flour, 
which must be lessened in proportion. 

You will notice that this is the same preparation 
as the “Butter and Cream Thickening,’ given for 
stews or fricassees; except that boiling water is 
added in this case, where there is no other gravy 
than the simple cream sauce itself. It is, as I said 
before, the basis for many delicate dishes and dress- 
ings. 


nuing to stir till thick- 


BOILED COD, CUSK, OR OTHER WHITE FISH 


May be dished with the bones and skin carefully re- 
moved, and the above cream sauce poured over it. 


COD AND OYSTERS. 


Prepare, at the same time, a boiled cod, and an 
oyster soup, as by respective recipes already given. 

Dish the cod with the bones and skin removed. 
Serve the soup at the same time. 

Accompany them with a dish of mashed potatoes, 
done with butter and cream, or milk. See direc- 
tions, under “ Vegetables.” 

Help in soup-plates, — fish, oysters, and potato, 
at once. Mingle them, like a chowder, upon your 
plate, as you eat them. <Axz excellent dinner. 


150 FUST HOW. 


oat 
BROILED FISH. 


Shad, mackerel, small cod, small salmon, and blue- 
fish, are suitable for broiling. 

The directions are the same for all, and have been 
already given in the list of simple breakfast dishes. 

To be well cleaned, split down the back, sprinkled 
with salt over night, or for a time; washed in cold 


water, wiped dry, put in a wire broiler and set over — 


a clear fire, skinz-stde down ; when beginning to cook 
through, turn, and finish on the flesh side to an 
even, golden brown. 

Bits of butter, pepper, and salt to be scattered 
over it, hot. 

A teacup of broken butter, just melted, with a 


heaping saltspoonful of salt, and the same, round, of 


pepper stirred in, to be served as gravy, in a small 


sauce-boat. 
FISH STEAKS, 


Halibut, salmon, sword-fish, may be bought in 
slices, for broiling. Turn often while cooking, that 
neither side may be held long enough over the fire 
to scorch it. Both sides must be brought to the 
same even golden brown prescribed for the inner 
side of broiled shad, ete. 

Serve with the clear melted butter, peppered and 
salted, given in preceding recipe. 





4 
; 


¥UST HOW. ISI 


FRIED FISH. 
LARGE FISH, SLICED. 


Cod, haddock, halibut, salmon, in fact, any fish 
may be fried. 

Salt, wash, wipe, etc., beforehand, in the same way, 
according to the kind of fish, as directed at the be- 
ginning of the present division. 

Remove skin and bones, whenever it is possible, 
without breaking the pieces entirely up. Slices of 
cod and haddock require the bones to hold them in 
shape ; but the skin can be carefully taken off. Hal- 
ibut and salmon, on the contrary, require the edge- 
strip of skin, but can have the bone cut out. If, 
however, you divide the large sections of these latter 
fish, as furnished by the dealer, into small pieces for 
helping at table, you may free from skin and bone 
altogether. The whole slices can only be fried ina 
very large pan ; but done in that way, make a hand- 
-some dish. 

Make ready: Four or five slices of salt pork fried 
out crisp in the broad, deep pan for cake frying. 
When you have obtained all the fat from these, put 
into the pan enough lard to fill up to a depth equal 
to a little more than the thickness of the slices to 
be fried. 

Or: Melt butter and lard together, in such propor- 
tion as you choose or can afford of butter, to a simi- 
lar depth in the pan. Put in salt enough to season. 


152 SUST HOW. 


Or, again: Take all lard, in similar quantity ; or 
all butter, in only sufficient amount to make a quar- 
ter of an inch deep, melted, in the kettle. Add 
enough, when necessary, as you go on cooking, to 
keep it so. Salt, as before. ; 

As always in frying, keep the fat boiling hot, but 
never let it scorch. 

When your pieces of fish are wiped dry, either 
dredge them with flour, or roll them in fine Indian 
meal, or dip them in beaten egg, and then in eeate 
cracker crumbs, as you prefer. 

Lay as many pieces in the hot fat as the pan will 
accommodate, and fry exactly as you do cakes ; turn- 
ing them when done on one side to brown on the 
other. 

SMALL FISH, WHOLE. 

Perch, smelt, trout, etc.: Clean the inside and 
scrape the skin. Lay in cold salted water for an 
hour or so. Wipe dry, and dip in egg and crumb, 
or Indian meal,— or dredge with flour, as sliced 
fish. Zvout should be simply rolled in flour. 

Fry ¢rout in butter: either of the other fish in 
pork fat, or lard and butter, as just now detailed. 

Turn, and brown equally. Dip out with a skim- 
mer, and lay ona cloth for the fat to drain and be 
absorbed from them. Keep hot, and serve quickly. 


GUST HOW. 153 


SECTION III. 
RECIPES. 
PART VI. — MEATS. 


BOILED MEATS. 


In boiling meat, simply for the seaz’s sake, or the 
use of it, you follow an opposite rule, in the begin- 
ning, from that in regard to boiling meat for soup. 
You put it into doz/img, instead of cold, water. 

Cold water draws the juice of meat, which is pre- 
cisely what you want in broth and soup. Boiling 
water contracts and coagulates the surface, and 
keeps in the juice; which again is precisely what 
you want. 

Certain preparations of meats, however, which 
are, in character, between a soup and a boiled dish, 
as will appear in detail, are covered at first with cold 
water, and then brought to a guzck boil. This 
method steers between the two results, and secures 
at once a good gravy and an eatable, nourishing 
piece of meat. 

Corned and salted meats are put on to boil in cold 
water. 

BEEF BOUILLI. 

This is one of the dishes just now referred to, 
which come between a soup and a simple boiled 
meat. It is, in fact, merely a whole stew. 

[You perceive already how one order of cookery 
tuns into the next, and prepares the way for it.] 


154 YUST HOW. 


Take a nice round of fresh meat. Trim off al- 
most all the fat, — all the gristle and hard, outside, 
scrappy bits, — and take out the bone. 

Wash it, and lay it in a deep stew-pan, or soup- 
pot; cover it once and a half with cold water, and 
set it on the fire where it will come guzckly to a boil. 

Take off the scum carefully, as it rises. 

Cut up in small bits and slices two carrots, two 
small turnips or one large one, two onions, and a 
large head, or two small ones, of celery. 

If you have no celery, you can do without it by 
adding celery seed or celery salt to the spicing. 

When the scum is well removed, put in these 
vegetables and set the pot where it will only boil, or 
simmer very gently, yet steadily, like soup. Scatter 
in a dozen whole cloves. Keep closely covered. 

Allow four hours ; cook it till quite tender. 

One hour before it is done, put in a teaspoonful 
of made mustard, a large spoonful of any fine catch- 
up or sauce, and a gill or more of wine if you choose. 
Still keep closely covered. 

When the beef is done, take it up carefully on a 
deep dish, of, and set it near the fire until you 
finish your gravy. Do this by stirring in a little 
smooth flour thickening. Prepare two teaspoonfuls 
of flour to a quart, mixed with a little cold water, 
and added gradually, till you are sure you want it 
all. The vegetables will already have partly thick- 
ened the soup. 

Boil up, and turn over the meat. 





—— 


GUST HOW, 155 


Scatter some bits of nice mixed pickles — cauli- 
flower, sliced gherkin, with bits of some red pickle 
for the color — over the meat, before it goes to table. 


ALAMODE BEEF. 


Take a thick piece of juicy round, and remove the 
bone. Trim and wash as in previous directions. 

Wipe dry, and rub all over with the following 
spicing: One teaspoonful of pepper. — Three tea- 
spoonfuls of salt. — One teaspoonful of ground clove. 
— Four teaspoonfuls of sugar. Mix all together, 
equally over the meat, and rub in. Do ¢his over- 
night. 

Next morning, make the following stuffing, and 
fill with it the place of the bone: A pint of pounded 
cracker crumbs. — One fine chopped onion. — A 
tablespoonful of sweet marjoram, and a teaspoonful 
of summer savory.— A teaspoonful of salt. —A 
saltspoonful of pepper. — A saltspoonful of ground 
clove. 

Mix all these together, then melt a teacupful of 
broken butter and stir it evenly in, till the crumbs 
are all buttered. 

Put enough hot water to the whole to stir it toa 
stiff spoon-dough. Then beat an egg very light, 
and mix it in. 

Bind the meat into shape, when stuffed, with a 
broad strip of cotton, winding it around and across, 
so as to keep in the stuffing. 

Put a trivet, or grated stand, into the soup-pot, 


156 FUST HOW. 


and place the meat upon it. Pour in cold water 
enough to half cover it, and put in with the meat 
an onion with a dozen or more cloves stuck in it. 
Cover the pot very tight. 

Set it where it will come to a boil, and stew gen- 
tly four hours. During this time, turn the meat 
over three times; that is, at the end of each of the 
first three hours. This gives it a perfectly equal 
cooking. 

At the end of the four hours, take it from the fire, 
remove the cloth, put the meat — still on the trivet 
— into a roasting-pan, pour the gravy round it, 
dredge the meat well with flour, and set it into a 
hot oven to brown. Add sauce or wine to the gravy, 
if you like, as in Bouilli. 

When the flour browns thoroughly, baste it with 
the gravy; dredge it lightly again, and let it brown 
a second time. Then take it up. 

Put the roasting-pan with the gravy on the fire. © 
Mix a large spoonful of browned flour with a little 
cold water, and stir it in as the gravy boils. Taste, 
and salt as may be required. 

‘Turn <a ‘littlesof the gravy.<- ane a strainer 
—over the meat in the dish, and the rest into a 
saucé-tureen to send to table. 


CORNED BEEF, 


Salted and corned meats are put to boil in cold 
water. 

Buy corned beef from the round of a large, well- 
fed creature. 


GUST HOW. 157 


Put to soak over night in cold water. 

Early in the morning, wash and wipe, and put in 
the pot to boil. Cover twice deep with cold water, 
and set where it will heat up gradually and come toa 
very gentle boil. Take the scum off as it comes up. 

Boil four hours, —a large, solid piece may take 
from four to five,—and be sure it is tender when 
you take it off. 

If it is to be served hot for dinner, cook it in time 
to allow of removing it from the fire and letting it 
stand in the liquor it was boiled in until cooled down 
from the boil as far as will still be palatable. This 
makes it richer and more tender. Make a smooth 
drawn butter sauce to eat with it. 

If itis to be eaten cold, take it from the fire and 
from the pot assoonasdone. With aknife and fork, 
— chiefly with the fork — divide and shred it into 
small pieces ; mix these, fat and lean, — discarding 
all undesirable bits, — equally together; pack all 
down into a pan: set a pan just a little smaller, in- 
side, upon the meat, so as to press it down, and put 
a heavy weight — flat-irons answer the purpose very 
well— into the upper pan, and set all away for some 
hours, or over night. It will cut in delicious, ten- 
der, marbled slices, and is excellent for a Sunday 
lunch with hot vegetables. 


BOILED TONGUE. 


Smoked tongue is best. 
Wash, and lay in cold water over night. 


158 FUST HOW. 


Put on to boil in cold water, and boil, not furi- 
ously, but steadily, for four hours. 

Take out, peel off the skin, and put back into the 
hot liquor, and set away to grow cold. It may re- 
main in the water through the rest of the day and 
over night, if not wanted sooner. 

Cut tongue in /engthwzse slices, beginning at the 
outside of the bend. This makes a wonderful dif- 
ference in the tenderness and flavor. 


BOILED VEAL. 


Take out the bone from a fillet of veal. Makea 
stuffing, as for roast meat. See recipe further on. 

Fill the place of the bone with the stuffing, and 
draw the ends of the meat up as tight as possible 
with a needle and a coarse strong thread. 

Scald and flour a cloth, as for boiled mutton, and 
sew or tie the meat in it tightly. 

Boil three hours, or until tender, trying with a 
knitting-needle. 

Make an oyster sauce, by soup recipe, to serve 
with it. 

Well cooked, it is much like boiled turkey simi- 
larly served. | 

SWEETBREADS. 

Wash, and take off carefully all the thin skin in 
which they are wrapped, drawing it out from be- 
tween the lobes or folds. Remove also all mere 
fat. 

Put them in cold water, enough to freely cover, 


ON 


ee 


FUST HOW. - 159 


and set on to boil. When they have boiled fifteen 
minutes, take them out and lay them in cold water 
for ten minutes. Keep the water they were boiled 
in hot in the stew-pan, meanwhile. 

Put the sweetbreads back in the hot water, cover, 
and let come to a boil. 

For a pint of broth,—or with two sweetbreads, 
—take a round, solid tablespoonful of butter, cream 
it, and stir to it a teaspoonful and a half of flour, 
or a teaspoonful of corn-starch.—a saltspoonful of 
mace,—a scatter of pepper,—and two evez salt- 
spoonfuls of salt. ~ 

Stir this to the gravy with the sweetbreads, let 
them simmer until perfectly tender, and then add 
half a cup of cream to the same proportion of the 
other articles, and boil up once. 

Dish the sweetbreads, and pour the gravy over 
them. 

BOILED MUTTON. 

A shoulder of mutton will boil’ in an hour, or a 
little more. 

A leg will take from an hour and a half to two 
hours, according to size. Try with a knitting- 
needle, to ascertain when it is tender. 

Have a cloth to boil it in. Wring this out of 
scalding water, dredge it thickly with flour, and tie 
up the meat tightly in it. 

Put it into a large kettle of boiling water, and 
throw in two heaping tablespoonfuls of salt. 

When done, put it, cloth and all, into a pan, and 


160 YUST HOW. 


turn cold water over it enough to cover.. Let it 
stand a few minutes, but not long enough to cool 


too much. Then take off the cloth, and send at © 


once to table. 
Serve with it a smooth butter sauce, with capers 
separately. 
BOILED LAMB. 
Same way, allowing about a fourth less time. It 
must depend upon the size, however. Eight minutes 
to the pound, then try it. 


BOILED HAM. 


Lay the ham in a large vessel, and cover it with 
a plenty of cold water. Let it soak over night. 

Next morning, trim off all the hard, black, scrappy 
parts, wash it with a good, vigorous rub all over, 
and put it into plenty of clear, fresh water again. 

Let it soak through the day, changing the water 
three orfour times. At night put it into fresh water 
once more, and let it remain till morning. 

Now put it into a sufficiently large boiler, cover 
it with plenty of cold water, and let it heat gradu- 
ally. After it boils, it must do so steadily. Boil an 
ordinary-sized ham five hours. Take off all coarse 
scum from the water. 

Try it with a knitting-needle. When done, re- 
move it from the boiler, take off the skin, and then 
return it to the water it was boiled in, and let it re- 
main till perfectly cold. 





FUST HOW. SIGE 


TO BROWN A BOILED HAM. 


Prepare and boil it as above directed. Skin and 
cool it in the water. 

Put it in a roasting oven, and let it bake till the 
outer surface of fat begins to fry up. Then dredge 
it thickly with flour, or sprinkle it well and evenly 
with fine cracker crumbs. Roast it until of a hand- 
some brown. 

BOILED CORNED PORK. 


Wash, put in plenty of cold water, and set on a 
good fire. Boil a leg three hours. 
Serve with drawn butter sauce and capers. 


BOILED TURKEY. 


For this a dressing is required. I will therefore 
give you here a recipe for the — 


DRESSING OF STUFFED MEATS. 


Make ready: A pint of finely pounded cracker 
crumbs. — Half a cup of broken butter, melted. — 
Two round teaspoonfuls of sweet marjoram. —A 
pinch of summer savory. — Two round saltspoonfuls 
of salt.—A pinch of pepper.— A pinch of celery 
salt. — One egg. 

Mix the salt, pepper, and herbs, dry, with the 
cracker crumbs. 

Stir the melted butter in, evenly, till all the 
crumbs are buttered. 


Take a pitcher or measure of boiling water, and 
I! 


To. - YUST HOW. 


pour from it to the crumbs, until you bring them 
into a rather stiff semi-dough. It must be thor- 


oughly swelled and moistened, however, and must 


stir easily. 
Beat the egg very light, and mix it in. 


To réturn to the boiled turkey : — 

Have the boiler in which it is to be cooked al- 
ready on the fire an hour or more beforehand, and 
a piece of salt pork — about four cubic inches — 
boiling in it. Let this continue to cook with the 
turkey afterward. 

Have it well cleaned and washed ; the pinfeathers 
all picked out; the hair singed off, by holding it 
over some burning paper; then cut away all ex- 
cessive fat from within the lower part of the body, 
and score a knife through the skin on the back of 
the neck, so as to permit it to yield more space in 
front. | 

Put the stuffing into the breast, pushing it down 
under the skin, till you can get no more in, and it is 
round and full. Then put the remainder, if any, 
into the cavity of the body. The skin around the 
neck must be drawn forward, together, and tied 
round tightly. Any rent or opening must be sewed 
up. A few threads may be drawn across the open 
end of the body, if needed. 

Pass a skewer under the leg-joint, between the 
leg and the thigh,—then straight across through 
the body, — then under the opposite leg-joint in like 


——_ ~~ eS 


FUST HOW. 163 


manner ; press the thighs well upward, and close to 
the sides, and wind a string across around the ends 
of the skewer, and tie it tight. Truss up the wings 
in the same way, making your bird as trig, compact, 
and plump-looking as you can. Cross the ends of 
the drumsticks, tie them, bring them down to the 
tail, and tie all three tightly together. It is now 
ready for the wrapping-cloth and the hot water. 

- Dip a nice cloth in scalding water; wring it out ; 
dredge it all over with flour; wrap the turkey in it 
tightly, pinning or sewing it securely. See that the 
water boils when you put it in, and that there is 
enough to well cover the turkey. Boil a large tur- 
key steadily, but not furiously, for three hours. 
For the first hour, let it boil quite slowly, but never 
stop. 

You can try it, like other boiled meats, with a 
knitting-needle. When done, take out, unwrap care- 
fully, cut and draw away all the trussing-strings, re- 
move the skewers, and lay on the dish for serving. 
Dip a few spoonfuls of the sauce prepared to be 
eaten with it upon the turkey, and put the rest ina 
tureen. 

This may be either a nice drawn butter sauce or 
an oyster sauce, made like a simple oyster soup, 
except that you may have it a little richer and 
thicker, by exceeding the soup recipe in your meas- 
ures of butter and flour. 

You may send the boiled pork to table on a sepa- 
rate dish, or not at all, as you prefer. : 


164 FUST HOW. 


BOILED CHICKENS. 


Treat precisely as boiled turkey, except in point 
of time. See “Time-Table.” | 


POTTED PIGEONS. 


Clean the pigeons thoroughly, and tie each one 
in shape. 

Fry out two or three slices of salt pork in your 
kettle, until crisp. 

Meantime, unless done altogether beket eae 
prepare one even half-pint cupful of fine cracker 
crumbs, in which you mix, dry: One round tea- 
spoonful of sweet marjoram. — A pinch of sum- 
mer savory.— A scant teaspoonful of salt.—A 
pinch of pepper.—A pinch of celery salt.—A 
heaping saltspoonful of clove. 


When all these are mixed, stir to the whole two 
round tablespoonfuls of butter, freshly melted. Mix 
till even, crisp, and dry. | 

Take the pieces of pork from the kettle; leave 
just fat enough to run over the bottom,—say an 
eighth of an inch deep. 

Lay in as many of the pigeons as you can com- 
fortably, side by side. Sprinkle over them, evenly, 
two or three tablespoonfuls of the seasoned cracker 
crumbs ; repeat the layer of pigeons, — then the 
crumbs. Put in, here and there, some little strips 
of the crisped pork. Go on till the pigeons are 





GUST HOW. 165 


all in, and the crumbs used. I have supposed that 
you have a dozen or fifteen pigeons. Perhaps the 
cracker preparation would answer for a dozen and 
a half, but I think you would need fw// measure. 

Cover deep with warm water ; cover the kettle; set 
where it will come to a slow boil. Stew very gently 
and very steadily for three hours. 

Try your gravy toward the last, and add anything 
that may be needed. 

The salting must depend upon the saltness of the 
pork. The other seasoning, also, you must adjust 
by careful tasting, as with soups. I have givena 
measurement as nicely judged as I am able, for the 
outset. — 

Be sure to keep the kettle closely covered all the 
time the stew is cooking. 

Serve the pigeons in a large, deep dish, with gravy 
poured over them. The remainder ina sauce tu- 
reen. 

Remove, of course, the strings from the birds, 
before dishing. 


ROAST MEATS. 


In roasting meat, do not put it at first into avery 
hot oven; but have a good fire, growing hotter, that 
will make the heat brisk, and sustain it, after the 
meat is heated through. 

For an ordinary piece of meat, in a roasting-pan 
of the usual size, put in, at first, a pint of water, 
with a teaspoonful of salt for the basting. Add 
another pint, without salt, as this boils away. 


166 YUST HOW. 


A joint of meat, of any kind, after being well 
washed and trimmed nicely of all over-fat, dried, or 


scraggy parts, should be rubbed evenly with fine 


salt, before being put in to roast. 

Do not dredge the meat with flour at first. 

Let it heat gradually, and yield some portion of 
juice for the gravy, before you seal up the surface 
by flouring or browning. 

For two thirds of the time required for cooking, 
keep it wetted with the water and drippings, so that 
it shall not crisp at all. It must be rather in its 
own steady steam bath; having the oven as close 
as compatible with the necessary basting; never 
holding the door quite wide open, or keeping it open 
for more than a minute, or /ess, ata time. An old 
gauntlet glove is a good thing to protect the hand 
and wrist with, in roasting, to this end of exposing 
the meat and oven as little as possible. If you use 
a stove, open the door which swings to the left, that 
your right hand may enter easily at a small aperture. 

If the meat roasts faster on one side than the 


other, turn the pan, or the meat in it, but do all with ~ 


as little delay as possible. 

When about one third of the allowance of time 
remains for the cooking, withdraw the pan comfort- 
ably far, resting the end which you pull out upon 
some support outside. A wooden block, or cricket, 
kept on purpose on the hearth, is very convenient 
for this. Now dredge the meat all over, thoroughly 
and thickly, from a fine sifter, with flour. Return 


7 








ES ey 


UST HOW. 167 


the pan to the oven, and let it remain till the flour 
is well browned. Then baste freely with the gravy, 
and flour immediately again. 

Repeat the flouring and browning, letting the 
crust grow crisper each time before you baste. 
Two, three, or more times, as you have opportunity 
in the given time and the quickness of your oven. 
Never wash off a flouring before it is browned on, 
and do not leave any wxbrowned flour of the final 
dredging. 

If you have followed this method carefully, and 
managed well your-supply of water in the pan, — 
you must watch this as the roasting goes on, and 
secure a good pint, not more, at the end, — there 
will be no trouble with the gravy, which will be al- 
ready made and browned, only requiring to be boiled 
up and strained, as follows :— 

Dish your meat, cover it, and keep it hot. 

Set the roasting-pan on the fire, and with a tin 
spoon scrape up all the browning from the bottom 
and corners, and stir it with the gravy as it boils. 
If your meat was very fat, and you find that the 
flour separates and fries in the gravy, instead of 
mingling readily and smoothly to thicken it, pour in, 
slowly, boiling water till it unites, stirring all the 
time. 

(The same rule applies if you have occasion to 
dredge flour into a gravy in the making or finish- 
ing. I have found a cook in distress over a gravy 
that would not thicken, though she dusted in flour 


168 FUST HOW. 


enough to serve for a quart or more of porridge. It 
all gathered in lumps, and fell to the bottom, while 
the perverse fat bubbled and hissed at the top, and 
would have nothing to do with it. A generous spill 
of boiling water from the kettle reconciled matters 
as by a counteracting magic, and astonished cook 
with something undreamed of in her philosophy.) 

If you have failed to get in quite enough flour in 
the roasting, dredge in more, delicately, as you stir, 
till it is right. Taste for the salting. 

If, by the addition of flour, or flour and water, a 
gravy becomes too light-colored, use a little burned 
sugar, as directed under the head of “ Gravy and 
Soup Thickening.” 


ROAST BEEF, OR ROAST MUTTON. 


The directions are sufficiently explicit in the fore- 
going pages. Allowance of time is given, in the 
“ Time-Table,” Section II. 


YORKSHIRE PUDDING, WITH ROAST BEEF. 


Make a light batter, by recipe for ‘ popovers.” 

Before you do this, if your roast is a cut of the 
sirloin, with a thin end, cut this end off from the 
main piece; lay a grating, or a few skewers, across 
a small pan that will set in the oven beside the large 
roasting pan, put the thin bit of beef upon this sup- 
port, and place the pan in the oven. Do this in 
time for the beef to begin to roast and make a drip- 
ping in the pan, into which you may pour your bat- 


GUST HOW. 169 


ter as soon as mixed, and give it an hour afterward 
to cook. 

As the meat roasts, the gravy will continue to 
drop upon the pudding, which will thus bake slowly, 
being enriched and crisped by the process, and will 
come out at last with a bubbly, glossy-brown sur- 
face, and with a delicious flavor. 

Cut in narrow strips, and lay around the large 
roast in serving. - 


ROAST VEAL. 


Prepare a “dressing for stuffed meat.” See 
recipe. 

If a leg, remove the bone, and fill the space with 
the stuffing. 

If a loin, tuck as much under the flap as you can, 
and keep the rest to put in the corner of the pan 


- in the last third of the time, and brown when you 


are browning the meat. 

Lay two or three thin slices of nice salt pork on 
top of the meat after it is placed in the pan. This 
will afford the enrichment of the gravy, and give 
flavor to the veal. Remove it for the final brown- 
ing. 

Proceed with the roasting as in general directions. 
After the first half hour, keep a hot oven, but baste 
well. Let a large piece have its full four hours; 
1emembering that long-roasting meats must be the 
more assiduously attended. 


170 GUST HOW. 


SWEETBREADS. 


Wash, and skin carefully. 

Cover with cold water, and set on to boil. Boil 
fifteen minutes, take out, and lay in cold water for 
ten minutes. 


Put them into a pan for roasting, pour around © 


them enough of the water they were boiled in to 
make a liberal gravy; it may need all. For each 
sweetbread, allow a round tablespoonful of butter 
and a saltspoon of salt, put into the pan with the 
water. 

Roast till they begin to brown, basting with the 
butter and water freely, as you do with meat, not 
letting them crisp. 

Then dredge with flour, brown, and baste, twice. 

Dish them, keep hot, and boil up the gravy, add- 
ing for each sweetbread a pinch of mace and a good 


scatter of pepper. If not thick enough, dredge in 


lightly and finely a little more flour. 
Pour the gravy over the sweetbreads in the dish. 


ROAST PORK. 


Follow general directions, being particular to give 
it its full time. You can scarcely roast pork too 
much, provided you keep it well basted. 

In making the gravy, note the instructions as to 
the addition of hot water for the mingling of the 
flour with the fat. You will have to keep a good 
supply of water in the pan while roasting, and use 





e o 
ee ee ee = 


YUST HOW. LI 


flour with corresponding liberality in browning. 
Skim off, if necessary, a part of the fat when taking 
up. It needs only its own fat, of course, in basting. 


BAKED PORK AND BEANS. 


Pick over and wash a quart of dried beans, the 
night before you bake them. Put them to soak in 
plenty of cold water. 

In the morning, turn off the water, put them in a 
kettle, and cover them with plenty of cold water ; 
set them on to boil. . 

Boil them till perfectly tender; then turn off the 
water*again, put them into a stone or earthen pot; 
score through in lines the rind of a piece of nice salt 
pork, about four cubic inches, not less, in size, and 
bury it, all but the surface of the rind, in the mid- 
dle of the beans. The pork should be selected from 
a strip that is fat and lean, in alternate stripes, and 
of the thickness which will give nearly the shape 
and size mentioned. 

Put enough boiling water to the beans in the pot 
to cover, anda fourth more. If you like it, stir in 
two tablespoonfuls of molasses.1 Cover the pot 
with a plate, or earthen baking-dish, and put in the 
oven. Bake moderately, but steadily, five hours. 

If the water wastes away, in the middle of the 
baking, so as to be below the surface of the beans, 
supply enough, boiling, just to cover them. Toward 


1 A teaspoonful of fresh-made mustard, stirred in also, gives an ex 
cellent and unrecognized savor to a pot of baked beans. 


172 ¥UST HOW. 


the end of the time, it may be allowed to dry down 
enough to permit the pork to brown. You may un- 
cover the pot for a little while, for this purpose. — 


ROAST TURKEY. 


@ 

Wash thoroughly, rinse with soda in the water, 
and rub with salt. 

Prepare as before directed for boiling. 

Put the heart, liver, and gizzard in a small sauce- 
pan, cover well with water, and set on to boil. 

Put with the salt and water, in the pan for roast- 
ing, two round, solid tablespoonfuls of butter to a 
pint. As you renew the supply of water, add* butter 
in the same proportion to the second pint only. 

Baste with the greatest care, watching the turkey 
as it begins to brown, and keeping it evenly turned 
to the heat. Keep it beautifully moist and tender, 
free from the least scorching, blistering, or shrivel- 
ing, till it is of a golden brown all over. Take the 
top of the gravy for basting, that the skin may be 
kept well buttered. 

In the last third of the time, follow general roast- 
ing directions in flouring, browning, and basting. 
You will be able to make three or four repetitions 
of the process. Just before flouring, you may, un- 
less there is a very rich top to your gravy to baste 
with, put some clear butter, in addition, to the sur- 
face of the roast. Then dredge on the flour quickly. 

Be careful to flour and brown all over, turning 
and supporting the turkey in the pan so as to reach 





JUST HOW. 173 


all sides successively. Little cake-tins, or muffin- 
rings, do very well to bolster up with. Finish the 
parts farthest back first, as well as you can; then 
devote yourself to the breast and sides, turning the 
pan only, and not disturbing the turkey. 

When done, the “elegant fowl” will be entirely 
coated with a fine, frothy, crisped, rich brown crust, 
which will break off in shells with the carving, and 
make a most SAYPLY addition to the accompani- 
ments. 

Dish the turkey, and finish the gravy over the 
fire, as already instructed. Add the water in which 
the giblets have been boiled, and whatever more 
may be wanted from the teakettle. Have the gib- 
lets chopped small, in a bowl; strain the gravy over 
them, and stir up. Fill your sauce-tureen, and 
serve. 

I should say that in roasting a large turkey hand- 
somely, you might use an even, solid cupful of but- 
ter in the whole stuffing and basting. Of course, in 
the use of butter in this or any process of cookery, 
you may make less do, if you wish to economize. I 
give a good allowance, which is enough for the best. 

The quantity of gravy which should result from 
the treatment prescribed here will be sufficient for 
two days’ serving of a large turkey ; and I think it 
better to have the roasting handsomely done at first, 
and gravy reserved for a second dishing, than to 
spare in the first cooking and have to supplement, 
perhaps with as much material and less satisfactorily, 


174 ¥UST HOW. 


in the last. I only wish you to understand that you 
may regulate, reasonably and conscientiously, your 
Own quantities; the method and order of doing re- 
main the same. 


ROAST CHICKEN. 


Prepare and cook like turkey, except for the differ- 
ence in time. 


- ROAST GOOSE. 


Prepare like a turkey, except that you add a fine- 
chopped onion:and a pinch of sage to the dressing. 

A dressing made of finely mashed potatoes, in- 
stead of cracker crumbs, is very nice, and more 
strictly in rule, though a cracker stuffing is so good 
that it should not be vetoed, invariably. 

Before you begin to dredge and brown your goose, 
skim a good deal of the fat from the gravy in the 
pan. Then finish roasting and making gravy as for 
turkey. | 

Nothing but its own fat is to be used in basting a 
goose. 

DUCKS AND GROUSE. 
Are roasted in the same way, noting the difference 
of time by Table. Grouse require butter in basting. 


SMALL BIRDS. 


Wipe them dry after washing, tie them up nicely, 
without stuffing, dredge them with flour, baste with 
butter and water, and be careful not to overdo. 


¥UST HOW. 175 


A little wine, or jelly, or both, may be added to 
the gravy, in finishing. 


CHICKEN OR VEAL PIE. 


Make a nice fricassee, by recipe; a nice pie-crust, 
by recipe. A cream crust — see “ Gayworthy Short- 
cake’ — is particularly good. 

Put the pieces of meat into a deep baking-dish, ar- 
ranging them —in case of chicken—so that the 
same kind of bits may not come out in the same 
place, in the cutting and helping. Fill the dish 
nearly up with the gravy; cover with a round of 
paste ; cut a round hole out of the middle of the 
cover with an apple-corer ; bake half or three quar- 
ters of an hour, till the crust is handsomely done. 

A slice or two of ham, with most of the fat re- 
moved, cooked with the veal in the fricassee of that 
meat for a pie, and used with it in the filling, flavors 
it richly. In that case, the gravy will not need 
salting. Do not put in enough ham to make it too 
salt. 

Both veal and ham should be cut in quite small 
pieces for the filling of the pie. 


ROAST MEATS, WARMED OVER. 


BEEF 
Should be cut in nice slices, the gravy boiled up in 
a pan over the fire, and then each slice, separately, 
dipped in and turned, quickly, remaining only long 


176 FUST HOW. 


enough, and barely that, for the heat to strike into 
it, and then taken out and laid in the dish, which 
should be hot, and kept hot. The scalding gravy to 
be poured over the whole. 

If beef has been roasted rare, and there is a con- 
siderable quantity left upon the bone, do not cut it 
off, but put it in the oven and heat through, basting 
with some of the gravy to keep it from drying. 

Additional gravy may be made from scraps and 
bone, trimmed from the piece, and boiled up ina 
spider. Thicken and brown by foregoing directions 
for gravies. 

MUTTON AND LAMB. 

In the same way as beef. If mint sauce has been 
made for it, any that is left may be stirred in with 
the gravy ; or make a little fresh and serve with it. 


VEAL 


May be sliced and heated in the gravy. There is 
little danger of over-cooking veal. Do not by any 
means fry it, however. 

The nicest way to use cold veal is to mince it 
very fine, —first picking it over and removing all 
gristle and uneatable bits; then put the veal gravy, 
or butter and water mixed half and half, in the 
spider or large frying-pan, and heat the veal in it, 
stirring it over often and thoroughly, and seasoning 
it with salt and a little pepper. <A very little mace, 
celery salt, or curry may be added if you like. 

Keep it over the fire till it shows a slight but dis- 





FUST HOW. 177 


tinct brownness ; stirring it, and keeping it suffi- 
ciently moist with gravy, or butter and water. When 
these last need to be added, melt together in equal 
proportions, put in salt enough to season, and stir 
into the mince... 

While the veal is cooking, prepare half a dozen 
slices of “water toast,’ by recipe; lay them in a 
hot dish, and pile the veal upon it to send to table. 
A few slices of lemon may be laid over the top 


PORK. 
Warm in slices, in the gravy. 


TURKEY, CHICKEN, ETC. 


Cut in nice, helpable pieces; boil up the re- 
mainder gravy in a deep pan; put in the meat, with 
the pieces of stuffing, and stew well together. Keep 
it covered. 

If more gravy is needed, supply it with butter 
and hot water. A solid round spoonful of butter to 
a cupful of water. The stuffing will thicken it; if 
there is a deficiency of this, dredge flour over the 
meat as it lies in the pan, and then turn the pieces 
over, that the flour may become mixed with the 
whole. 

If the roast has been well browned in the first 
place, the gravy will come to a good color; but in 
case of a too pale gravy, take out the meat when 
done, and brown as usual, with a very little burned 


sugar. 
12 


178 : GUST HOW. 


If you have to make a gravy altogether, prepare — 
it beforehand, by boiling up all the brownest bits 
and scraps, with the bones, in as little water as will 
answer, making up the quantity with butter and 
water in the proportions above said. Take out the 
scraps, and put in your nice pieces to be warmed. 


BROILED MEATS. 


BEEFSTEAK, 


If the slices are freshly and cleanly cut, as they 
should be, do not wash them. Trim off the fat edges ; 
they only melt and drip into the fire, and smoke the 
meat. 

-If you are sure that the steak is of the very ten- 
derest, do not pound or chop it; but if this is not 
certain, still do not pound it; but place it on your 
meat-board, and with a sharp chopping-knife cut it 
with fine parallel strokes across and across, on each 
side, till you will almost think you are making mince- 
meat of it. You will not do this, so long as you do 
not chop quite through. The quick heat to which 
you will presently subject it as I shall tell you, will 
seal the surfaces, and you will hardly perceive, when 
it is cooked and served, that it has been chopped at 
all. It will simply be made tender, in the only way 
I know of in which tough steak cam be made so, in 
any degree. 

A light wire broiler, that you can keep in your 
hand and turn quickly, is the best. Put the slice of 


GUST HOW. 179 


meat — you can do only one, of good size, properly, 
at once — into the middle of it; laying it into com- 
pact shape if it needs shaping, and particularly if 
you have had to chop it, in which case it will be 
somewhat thinned out, and must not be left spread- 
ing as it will, but be gathered up together. 

Have a clear, hot fire ; enough of it to last through 
your broiling ; hold the broiler close down, an in- 
stant, on each side; turning it quickly, to save the 
juice. Let each side sear over, white, before you 
begin to really broil. 

Now tend, turn, and lift, as you do in toasting 
bread; especially ¢uvm almost continually. You 
must keep the juices in-tthe meat, not let them drip 
away. The surfaces will gradually cook and brown, 
without either being hardened or scorched precipi- 
tately. In fact, only the mere outside will get 
browned, which is the secret of a well-broiled steak. 

If you are a novice, you may have to try your 
steak, to be sure when it is done. Do this witha 
small, sharp-pointed knife. Make a small, clean cut 
into the middle of the slice, and observe the color 
of the inside. If purple, and raw-looking, cook it 
longer. If only of a nice, bright red, just verging 
to the brown, it is right. It must never be of a 
dead, dark brown. After some practice, you will be 
able to judge, without using the knife, by the man- 
ner in which it has taken the heat, and by ‘the 
browning of the outside. This will not have the 
least dry, toasted look about it, but will be of a 


180 SFUST HOW. 


moist, rich color all over alike; a good meat-brown, 
which is a tint saz generis. 

Have a hot dish ready, with pieces of butter cut 
up over it, and sprinkled with salt and pepper ; the 
former liberally. Lay the steak from the broiler 
. directly upon this; if you have to let it stand till 
you have broiled more, put it over an open kettle of 
boiling water, or in the hot closet, or the ofex oven 
of your stove, covered carefully with an earthen 
dish. It would be well to cover all with a folded - 
cloth. If you can keep it from cooling, and at the 
same time keep its own steam in, it will not harm. 
Still, serve steak, always, as quickly as possible. 


BROILED VEAL. 


Cook in the same way, but as slowly as possible. 
Veal must always get as much cooking, in any proc- 
ess, as you can manage for it. After the first slight 
searing, hold or set the broiler as high above the fire - 
as can be allowed for any progress, and gradually 
bring it closer. Remember that veal is dry meat, 
and do not let it parch. 

I do not particularly advise broiling; a fricassee 
is better. 

BROILED CHICKEN. 

Have the chicken split down the back. Wash, 
wipe, and rub with salt. 

Put in the wire broiler, and hold the inside first to 
the fire. : | ; 

When the heat has struck through, turn and broil 
the meat side. 





JUST HOW. 181 


Watch and lift it, regulating the heat so as not to 
blister and scorch. Broil till of a fine, even, yellow 
brown. Try with your little sharp knife, if you need 
to. The meat must be quite white, all through. If 
pink, it is not done. 

Serve on a hot dish, with a generous quantity of 
butter cut up on it, and sprinkled with salt and pepper. 


BROILED GROUSE. 


Prepared and cooked like chicken; but must not 
be cooked too much. It should be juicy, but there 
must be no raw color if you try it with a knife. 
Cook slowly ; the breast is thick, and may easily 
scorch outside before doing through. Keep the bone 
side to the fire till the heat takes effect throughout ; 
but turn for a minute at a time, so as not to burn. 

Serve with butter, salt, and pepper on the dish, 
like chicken. 

SMALL BIRDS. 

Cook in same manner, with great care not to 

scorch or overdo. 


SECTION III. 


RECIPES. 


PART VII.—SAUCES. 


BREAD SAUCE 


Break into fine crumbs enough white bread, leav- 
ing out all hard crust, to make a heaping cupful. 











182 JUST HOW. 


Boil an onion soft, as for eating. 

Prepare a cream butter sauce, as directed on page 
148, omitting the flour, or other thickening. 

Cut up the boiled onion, very fine. When the 
sauce boils, stir in the onion, and then add bread 
crumbs, a spoonful at a time, until the sauce is 
thickened like a porridge ; not like a pudding, but 
so that'it will pour nicely from the ladle in helping. 


Add a scatter or two of pepper to the seasoning. 


CELERY SAUCE, 


Cut up, fine, all the nice, tender parts of a good 
head of celery. 

Put it in a saucepan, and turn to it enough cold 
water to cover it for boiling. A pint, or more, ac- 
cording to the quantity of celery. | 

Cover, and let it boil till tender. Meanwhile, 
cream a half cupful of solid butter, as for butter- 
sauce, with a scant teaspoonful of cornstarch, or a 
merely full one of flour. Season with two salt- 
spoonfuls of salt and a pinch of pepper, beaten i in. 
Have ready a cup of cream. 

When the celery is boiled, stir in the creamed 
butter, and add the cream. Stir smoothly, and 
boil up. 

Or: You may make a cream butter sauce, pre- 
cisely as directed on page 148, with the addition of 
a little sprinkle of pepper to the seasoning, anda 
teaspoonful of celery salt. Use less, consequently, 
of common salt. 








FUST HOW. 183 


CAULIFLOWER SAUCE. 


Boil a small cauliflower, tender, in salted water. 

Prepare a cream butter sauce. 

Break and mash, with a fork, all the delicate part 
of the cauliflower, rejecting anything hard, dark, or 


green. Mix hot with the boiling sauce. Adda 


sprinkle or two of pepper to the seasoning. 

Serve with any boiled meat. 

A nice white cabbage, boiled ‘and chopped, may 
be dressed in the same way, and tastes very similar. 


MINT-SAUCE. 


Strip the leaves froma bunch of fresh mint. The 
tender tips of stalk and leaves may be retained. 

Gather these leaves and tips, as many as you can 
at a time, in an even bunch in your fingers, and 
with a small, sharp knife slice them across into fine 


shreds. Cut these, again, into the finest bits. 


To a cupful of chopped mint put an equal quan- 
tity of sugar. Mix and mash together in a bowl, 
till the juice of the mint has partially dissolved and 
well moistened the sugar ; then stir to it half a cup 
of nice clear vinegar. 

Mint sauce may be kept a long time in a stopped 
glass jar. 

SALAD DRESSING. 

Cream one solid cupful of butter, very light. 

Stir smoothly to it the yolks of four eggs. 

Mix in thoroughly one tablespoonful of made 


184. JUST HOW. 


mustard with one heaping teaspoonful of salt. If 
you like, sprinkle in the very smallest possible 
pinch of cayenne pepper. Otherwise, use a more 
positive “scatter” of white pepper. Be careful, 
however, of the “bite;” you can add either mus- 
tard or pepper Sorin 

Stir in, very slowly, dropping it from a “spoon, a 
cupful of the freshest and purest Lucca oil. 

Add to the strained juice of a lemon enough nice, 
clear vinegar to make half a cupful. Turn this also 
very slowly to the dressing, stirring all the time. 

The oil will have made the mixture very thick. 
The lemon and vinegar will thin it to a right con- 
sistence. I give a good average proportion of the 
latter; but in this particular you must depend partly 
on your own judgment and preference. If the dress- 
ing seems to be sufficiently thinned before you have 
used quite all the measure, desist. If the measure 
does not make it quite thin enough, add a little more. 
Put it in slowly, observing and tasting cautiously. 

Do not pour dressing over salad until just about 
to serve. 

If lettuce, and not celery, be used in the salad, 
you may add a teaspoonful or more of celery salt 
to the seasoning at the beginning. 

If you do not find it quite warmly enough sea- 
soned when finished, either mustard or pepper can 
be added. If the former, take a little dry, in a cup, 
and mix with it some of the salad dressing; then 
stir it thoroughly into the whole. 








GUST HOW. 185 


SALAD DRESSING, WITHOUT OIL. 


Prepare the butter, egg, and seasoning, as in last 
recipe. 

Stir in, gradually, instead of oil, a cupful of good 
cream. 

Add lemon-juice andevinegar, as in oil dressing. 

Observe all particulars of the process, as given 
before. 

THICK MELTED BUTTER. 

Cream perfectly whatever quantity of butter is 
needed. Stir in two saltspoonfuls of salt to a cup 
of butter. ‘ 

When quite fine and light, turn upon it — stirring 
well, and always the same way —four tablespoon- 
. fuls of boiling-hot water to a half-pint of butter. 

Hold it over the fire, stirring gently and steadily, 
till just sufficiently heated to serve. 


CRANBERRY SAUCE. 


Put a quart of cranberries into a large bowl, and 
pour plenty of boiling water over them. If you 
have them in a four or five-quart vessel, fill it al- 
most full. The berries must be well scalded. 

Let the water cool till you can bear to dip your 
fingers in; then take out the berries by small hand- 
fuls, and pick out carefully every one that is soft, 
discolored, or unripe. The good ones will be bright 
red and plump, from the scalding. 

Put them in a porcelain kettle, pour on thema 


186 YUST HOW. 


pint of boiling water, cover, and let boil twenty min- 
utes, or until the berries break, and you can mash 
them down. While they are boiling, have a full 
pint of white sugar in a baking-dish, in the open 
oven or by the fire, where it will become very hot. 

Stir the cranberries often, and mash them evenly. 

When they are cooked as directed spill in the 
hot sugar quickly, stirring well. 

Boil up about five minutes,! then take off, shia 
strain through a fine vegetable sifter. You may put 
it in molds, or set it away in a large bowl or pan, 
to cut out when cold, in slices. It will be like 
marmalade. 

If you do not care to have it strained, the sauce 
will be of the very best in the commoner form. It 
will harden like jelly, with the broken berries min- - 
gled in it. : 

APPLE SAUCE. 


Es 


Core, pare, and quarter a baking-dish full of nice, 
juicy apples. 

Cover them with a thick layer of sugar; put a 
plate over the dish, set it in a pan slightly larger, 
with hot water in the bottom, around the dish, and 
put in the oven. 

Bake till the apple is clear and tender. 


1 If the sugar was cold, or not very hot, boil fifteen minutes. 








FUST HOW. 187 


II. 


Put juicy apples, cored, pared, and quartered into a 
jar, or inner boiling pail ; set this into an outer vessel 
with cold water in it. Put the whole over the fire, 
and let it boil; continuing until the apple is tender. 

Take off, and sift; sweeten the pulp pleasantly, 
and set away to cool. 

IIL. 

Core, pare, and quarter the apples. 

Take a dish in which you can serve the sauce, 
cover the bottom with cold water, fill it with apples, 
and strew sugar thickly over them. 

Bake without covering, until the apple is tender, 
not disturbing the sugared surface, but letting it 
brown delicately. 

If the oven prove rather hot, so that the sugar 
browns before the apple is done, you can cover it as 
may be necessary to keep it right. 


PUDDING SAUCE. 


Cream half a cup of broken butter till very light 
and delicate. 

Add, and beat to it, till perfectly light and white, 
one rounded-full cup of sugar. 

Have on the fire an open shallow pan with water 
boiling in it. Let the water be only so deep as will 
allow of the bowl in which you beat the butter and 
sugar being set in it to heat. 

' Just before serving, and on no account sooner, 


188 YUST HOW. 


dip four tablespoonfuls of the boiling water to the 
sauce, stirring it well. Then set the bowl into the 
pan, and stir till the sauce is but just dissolved to a 
thick foam. 

If you wish wine in it, it should be heated sepa 
rately in a small utensil with the requisite quantity 
of water for dissolving the sauce. Use a wineglass- 
ful of wine with a tablespoontul of water. Heat it 
quickly, when you are just going to use it, cy it 
may not waste away. 

If you wish to flavor with lemon, it may be done 
with a teaspoonful of the best essence, or you may 
grate the rind of a fresh lemon, steep it beforehand 
in the wine you mean to use, and boil it up in it; 
then strain the wine upon the butter and sugar in 
melting. 

, Strain, also, the juice of the lemon into the sauce. 

A simple foamy sauce, with no flavoring except 
that of a grating of nutmeg over the top after it is 
poured into the tureen, is as nice as need be, and I 
think preferable, when the pudding has a spicing or 
flavoring of its own. 

A cup of cream may be well beaten with the but- 
ter and sugar, after they are thoroughly prepared, 
and the sauce then melted by standing in the boil- 
ing water and stirring, without any further liquid 
addition. 

COLD PUDDING SAUCE. 

Cream butter and sugar in the same way as for 
melted sauce, flavor it with anything you prefer, and 
pile it lightly in a pretty dish. 











FUST HOW. 189 


SECTION III. 


RECIPES. 


PART VIII. — VEGETABLES. 


POTATOES, 


New potatoes are best baked. 

Full grown, fair, ripe potatoes may be either 
boiled or baked. 

Old potatoes must be very carefully prepared, and. 
boiled. " 

Wash and pare potatoes early in the morning, to 
cook for dinner. With very old ones you may do 
so over night. 

Lay them, when pared, into a pan with a great 
deal of cold water, and let them soak till the time 
for boiling, Change the water ftom twice’ to three 
and four times, according to age. 

Three quarters of an hour before dinner, take 
them out of the water, wipe each one quite dry in a 
clean towel, and put them into a large kettleful of 
boiling water, with a couple of tablespoonfuls of 
salt thrown in. Cover them, and let them boil half 
an hour, or until tender upon trial with a knitting- 
needle. 

Then turn off all the water, shake up the potatoes 
in the kettle, scatter a little salt over them, and set 
the kettle, uncovered, on the back of the stove, to 


190 ¥YUST HOW. 


‘steam off. Dish up the rest of the dinner, and if 
not too long about it, the potatoes will be just right 
to take up at the last. 

Never dish up potatoes and let them wait for 
other things. Have everything else at the finishing 
point, when you set them to steam, and then proceed 
expeditiously. They may steam five minutes. 


SNOW POTATO. 


After the potatoes are boiled and steamed off, rub 
them through a colander. They will drop into the 
dish below in coiling strings, which will heap them- 
selves up lightly, and make a delicate, inviting ap- 
pearance for serving. 

Have the dish ot beforehand ; and keep hot over 
the fire, or in the open oven. Serve quickly. 


BROWNED POTATO. 


Mash well-boiled potatoes finely ; mix with them, 
as you do so, a palatable allowance of butter and 
salt; nice beef-dripping will do instead of butter; 
put into tin baking-plates, and set in a hot oven till 
well browned. Give them twenty minutes’ time. 


CREAM POTATO. 


Mash finely ; salt well; stir in a cupful of scalded 
cream to a dishful made with ten large sized pota- 
toes ; add a little butter, by taste. Do all this in 
the hot pan they were steamed off in. Keep hot 
over the fire, where it cannot burn. Serve as soon 
as possible. 








FUST HOW. IgI 


RICE. 
Wash and rinse repeatedly in cold water, till very 


white. Pick out all discolored grains, and other 


refuse particles. The best rice ought not to need 
much picking over. Let it soak in the last water 
an hour or more. 

Drain off all the water, and dry the rice on a large 
towel. Prepare it long enough beforehand to allow 
of its remaining awhile spread out on the cloth to 
dry more perfectly. It must not dry hard; simply 
let all the actual water be absorbed from it, leaving 
the kernels separate, and with a beginning of swell- 
ing and softening from the moisture. 

Have a kettle with a good deal of boiling water in 
it. The rice must have room to scatter in it as it 
boils. See that it does scatter, by frequently stir- 
ring it up from the bottom with a fork. Never stir 
rice with a spoon. ; 

Let it boil fifteen minutes ; then try a grain or two 
by tasting; the moment you find it tender enough 
to bite through without any feeling of hardness or 
rawness, take the kettle off, and pour the water 
away through a fine colander or vegetable strainer. 
Set the strainer, with the rice in it, on the back of 
the stove for about ten minutes, to let the grains dry 
perfectly. 

All depends upon the plenty of water, and the in- 
stant watching of the rice to detect the exact point 
of its sufficient softening. It must not boil a min- 
ute after you can bite it as before said. 


192 GUST HOW. 


MACARONI. 


Wash and soak like rice, having broken it up into 
lengths of six or eight inches. Wipe dry, and put 
into a plenty of boiling water. | 

Boil half an hour, in salted water. Meanwhile, 
for an average dishful, cream two tablespoonfuls of 
butter, scald a teacup of cream, or rich milk, stir 
the hot cream gradually to the butter, adding a heap- 
ing saltspoonful of salt. Do not mix these till the © 
macaroni is ready to be taken up. ) 

Turn off all the water carefully from the maca- 
roni, pour the butter and cream upon it ‘in the ket- 
tle, and set it back on the fire to turn it over in the 
dressing. Then dish for the table. 


TOMATOES, 


Stewed: Pour boiling water over them, to take 
the skins off. Peel them nicely, and cut them up. 
Put them into a saucepan with a little butter, allow 
a round tablespoonful to half a dozen tomatoes; salt, 
half a teaspoonful to as many; and a sprinkle of 
pepper. Stew three quarters of an hour. 

As they boil, after cooking about half an hour, 
dredge over, and stir in, two or three sprinkles of 
flour. Or, if you prefer, scatter and stir in fine 
cracker crumbs, until thickened a little. 

fried: Mix together in a dish a little flour, pep- 
per, and salt. A pinch of pepper and a large salt- 
spoonful of salt to three tablespoonfuls of flour. 











GUST HOW. 193 


Slice the tomatoes without skinning ; lay each slice 
in the flour, turning it over to flour it well; or put 
your flour, pepper, and salt into a little sifter or 
sprinkler, and dredge each tomato slice on both 
sides. 

Put enough butter into a frying-pan to cover the 
bottom when melted, let it heat till it sizzles, and 
then lay in the slices of. tomato. 

Fry brown. 

Lrowed: Slice the tomatoes without peeling. 

See that your fire is clear and hot. Put the slices 
in a wire toaster, and toast, carefully, like bread, or 
like broiling steak ; turning often, to keep the juice 
in. Bring them to a nice, decided brown on both 
sides. 

Lay the slices in a dish, dropping on the middle 
of each one a bit of butter, and giving it a dust of 
salt and pepper. Send to table as hot as possible. 

Baked: Scald, peel, and slice. Butter a baking- 
dish. Have ready a cupful of fine cracker crumbs. 

Put a layer of tomatoes in the dish, sprinkle them 
with pepper and salt, the former cautiously ; drop a 
bit of butter on each slice, and strew cracker crumbs 
over the whole. Proceed in this way until you have 
used all your tomatoes, or filled the dish. 

Finish with a good sprinkle of crumbs, and drop 
bits of butter over the top. Bake an hour. 

Canned tomatoes: May be stewed or baked in the 
same way as fresh ones. 

I3 


194 YUST HOW. 


Smooth tomato sauce, for dressing: See “ Maca- 
roni and Tomato,” in the sow division. 


CAULIFLOWER. 


Pick off the leaves. Trim down the stalk. Put 
the cauliflower in cold water. 

An hour before dinner, put it into a large porce- 
lain kettle, or nice tin boiler, with a great deal of 
boiling water, salted. 

Let it boil steadily, but not in a furious manner, 
to toss and bruise it, for one hour. 

Prepare for it a cream butter sauce, without the 
spicing of mace. 

Take up the cauliflower carefully, with a large 
vegetable skimmer or wire ladle. Put it in the dish 
for table, and pour over it the cream sauce. 

See, also, “ Cauliflower Sauce.” 


CABBAGE. 


Wash it, examining it carefully, and stripping off 
the old, outside leaves. Let it lie for an hour or 
two, as convenient, in cold water. 

Put it into a large potful of boiling water. Have 
a plenty more of boiling water, to renew with, as 
below. 

When it has boiled half long enough,—see “‘ Time- 
Table” for old and young cabbages, — turn away all 
the water, and fill the pot with more; throwing in 
two or three spoonfuls of salt. Let it boil the re- 
mainder of the time, then take it out carefully upon 
a drainer, let the water run from it, and serve. 











GUST HOW. 195 


A drawn butter,sauce is nice, poured over it. | 

Or, when well boiled, chop it fine, put it in a 
saucepan, stir butter with it, and sprinkle in a little 
pepper, put it on the fire, and stir it till boiling hot 
again. Or, chop and dress like cauliflower. 


PARSNIPS, 


Wash, scrape, trim the ends, and put into salted 
boiling water. 

Boil, according to age, as by “ Time-Table.” 

Mash fine, butter well, sprinkling in salt and a 
little pepper. 

Return the saucepan to the fire, and stir till smok- 
ing hot again. 

TURNIPS. 
Wash and scrape. 
Cook like parsnips. 


BEETS. 


Wash, take off the thready roots, but do not 
scrape or trim. Put into boiling water, and cook, 
according to age, by ‘“Time-Table.” Never cut 
beets in any way until you do so at table. 


ONIONS. 


Take off the outer skins; all that are red, and 
one or two of the tougher white ones. 

Put milk and water, equal quantities if you can 
spare the milk, into a saucepan that will hold the 
onions with a plentiful covering of liquid. Boil up, 
and put in the onions; when boiled tender, turn off 


106 YUST HOW. 


the milk and water, chop the onions fine in the sauce- 
pan, butter them, sprinkle with salt and pepper, add 
a little cream, and stir over the fire till very hot. 

If you prefer to serve them whole, have a very 
little hot cream ready, in a tiny saucepan, stir a 
spoonful of butter into it over the fire, always stir- 
ring oze way, and keeping the butter upon the bot- 
tom of the hot vessel till it melts and mixes gradu- 
ally with the cream ; scatter salt and pepper upon 
the onions as you lay them hot from the boiling, in 
the dish for serving, and pour the cream and butter 
over them. 

WINTER SQUASH. 

Cut in halves, take out the seeds and fibres, cut in 
convenient pieces, not smaller than you are obliged, 
pare off the rind from each piece, put in the steamer 
over clear water, or any article you may be cooking 
whose flavor will not injure —like that of cabbage, 
for instance — the squash. 

You may lay a cloth in the bottom of the steamer, 
if anything else is boiling beneath, to prevent the 
dripping from the steamer carrying any squash flavor 
with it to hurt the other thing. 

Steam till tender, referring to “Time-Table ”. for 
calculation. 

When done lay a clean towel in a bowl or pan, put 
one piece of squash at a time into it, and squeeze it, 
to get rid of all the water possible. 

Mash all through a vegetable sifter, return to the 
fire in a saucepan, with butter and salt enough to 








JUST HOW. 197 


make it palatable, and a seasoning of pepper; stir 
till well heated up for serving. 


SUMMER SQUASH. 


Wash, cut up, without paring, and proceed in the 
same way as with the last, observing the difference 
of time. Let the seeds remain in, to be separated 
afterward in the sifting. 


SPINACH. 


Any tender greens are used under this head. 

Pick over and wash thoroughly a peck for an aver- 
age family dinner. 

Let it lie in cold water until time to cook it. 

Put into plenty of boiling salted water, and cook 
until tender. Then take out, drain, and chop very 
fine indeed; so that it becomes like a soft green 
paste. 

Have ready, prepared while the spinach is still 
boiling, a teacup of butter beaten to a cream, the 
yolks of two eggs added and stirred with it; a tea- 
spoonful of salt, and a pinch of pepper ; you may put 
in a saltspoonful of mixed mustard; a teacup of 
cream stirred with the whole. Mix this dressing 
with the chopped spinach, and return to the fire in 
a saucepan to stir and heat for dishing. Take it 
off just as soon as hot, that the egg may not cook 
enough to separate. 

This makes a dish like the delicious “‘epinards ” 
which one gets everywhere abroad. 


198 FUST HOW. 


PEAS. 


Put into a good deal of boiling salted water. In 
shelling the peas, if there is a great difference in 
their age and size, it is worth while to throw the 
large and small ones into separate bowls as you take 
them from the pods. Put on the large ones first, 
keeping back the tender ones until the others are 
partly done. All can then be dished together. 

Do not let them boil a moment after they are per- 
fectly tender ; but be sure to have them so. 

Butter quickly and plentifully, while hot, sprink- 
ling in a little additional salt, and serve before they 
cool. Have the dish hot. 


ASPARAGUS. 


Wash clean; cut off all the white part of the 
stems except a mere end. Roll in bundles in mus- 
lin,and tie up. This is better than to tie the stalks ; 
which are apt either to slip from a loose tying, or to 
be cut with a tight one. , 

Put into boiling salted water. Cook till tender. 

When nearly ready, make some butter and water 
toast, by “ Water Toast” recipe, using some of the 
water that the asparagus is boiling in. Lay this 
toast upon a hot dish. 

_ Take up the asparagus, unroll it carefully upon 
the hot toast. Melt quickly a spoonful or two of 
butter and put upon it, and send to table. 





| 
f 
: 
| 





FUST HOW. 199 


Or: Cut the asparagus, when boiled, into little 
bits, leaving off the white end. 
- Have ready some ‘thick melted butter,” put the 
cut asparagus into a hot dish, and turn the sauce 
upon it. 

Serve with or without the toast. 


STRING BEANS. 
String carefully, unless they are very little, tender 
ones. Cut off the tips. Boil and butter hot, like 
peas. Be sure and boil tender. 


SHELLED BEANS. a 

Boil well, —putting on in boiling water, —and 
butter and salt hot. See “ Time-Table.” 

The large cranberry beans are very nice, mashed 
finely with a broad fork, and well salted and but- 
tered. Do this in a hot pan, or dish, and then stir 
over the fire for a minute or two, before serving. 


GREEN CORN. 


Take off all the silk, and break off the unfilled 
ends of the cobs. 

Put into boiling water, and cook by “‘ Time-Table,” 
or until tender. , 

Serve on the cob, or score the rows lengthwise 
with a sharp knife, and scrape down with the back 
of the knife, getting cut all the hearts of the kernels 
without the hulls; stir up over the fire with butter 
and salt. 


200 ¥UST HOW. 


CANNED CORN, OR BEANS. 


Put on to boil as they come from the cans, adding 
a very little water if necessary to keep them from 
burning. Put in butter and salt before taking from 
the fire. 

OYSTER-PLANT. 

Wash and scrape, and boil one hour, or until ten- 
der. 

Take up and mash fine. Have ready a table- 
spoonful of butter, creamed, with the yolk of an egg 
stirred in, and seasoned with pepper, salt, and a 
little mace, — for an ordinary quantity of the plant, 
put in a teaspoonful of salt, a saltspoonful of pepper, 
and a saltspoonful of mace. 

Mix this with the mashed oyster-plant, take a 
spoonful at a time, roll it in flour, and fry in butter. 
Have just enough butter in your frying-pan to turn 
the balls in. 

EGG-PLANT. 

Cut the plant in slices, and lay them in cold water 
well salted for an hour or two. 

Prepare some cracker crumbs seasoned with salt 
and pepper, as directed for fried tomatoes ; beat the 
yolks of two or three eggs; wipe the slices of egg- 
plant dry, dip them in the egg, then in the crumbs, 
and fry them in butter enough to turn. 








¥UST HOW. 201 


SECTION III. 
RECIPES. 
PART IX. PUDDINGS AND PIES. 
PUDDINGS. 


I shall make four general divisions of examples for 
puddings : — 

Puddings with crusts. 

Soft-mixed puddings, 

Batter puddings. 

Sandwich puddings. - 

This will, I think, accomplish in this department 
what I have tried to do in all the others, namely, to 
so classify the varieties, giving a sufficient number 
of practical examples of each to lead to a clear un- 
derstanding and a ready management and adapta- 
tion of whatever may suggest itself, by invention or 
hearsay, under either head. Also, to show, as in 
the other orders of cookery, the: naturally relative 
proportions, and manner of handling, of all ingred- 
ients used in mixtures similar to each other. 


PUDDING-CRUSTS. 

Pie-paste, made by either of the recipes given 
under the head of ‘ Pastry,” is a suitable cover for 
boiled or baked fruit puddings. 

Potato-crust, for boiled fruit puddings, is made as 
follows : — 

Prepare, and boil, as for the table, three or four 
good, fair potatoes. 


202 ¥UST HOW. 


Mash them fine, and to two cupfuls of potato put 
two of sifted flour, and mix together well. Use a 
chopping-knife to do this, so as to keep all light and 
free from clogging. 

Chop in, now, as into flour alone in other crusts, 
one cup of solid butter, with a teaspoonful of salt. 

Mix to a paste, with very cold water, as usual, 
still doing all with the chopping-knife. 

Gather into a round heap, without molding, upon 
the pie-board. 

Roll into a round an inch thick in the middle, but 
thinned toward the edges, as these will be folded 
over. 

Have a thick pudding-cloth, — one of Canton-flan- 
nel, used with the nap side owf, is very good, — well 
scalded and wrung out, and dredged evenly and 
rather thickly with flour, laid over a large bowl. 

Put your sheet of crust upon the middle of the 
cloth, pile your fruit into the middle of the crust, 
letting the latter, with the cloth, drop into the bowl 
so as to form a hollow that will hold the filling ; 
turn the edges of the crust up over the fruit, gath- 
ering them round evenly with your fingers, until you 
can so press them gently together as to hold the 
filling securely. Then gather the cloth, in like 
manner, around the whole; lift it from the bowl with 
your left hand and wind a string around it with your 
right, — making a very tight tying-up as to the szving, 
but a loose one as to the space over the pudding in 
the bag. It must have room to rise lightly and 





FUST HOW. 203 


swell in the boiling, but no chance to take in water. 
Leave aspace in which you might put a large coffee- 
cup. 


In taking out a boiled pudding, lift it upon a large 
dish, letting the ends of the cloth fall over the edge 
“into another dish, and press the water well out of 
these before unfastening. Then untie the string, 
turn away the cloth-carefully all round, invert the 
dish in which the pudding is to be served above it, 
and turn the one upon which it rests upside down, 
dropping the pudding right side up into its own. 
Do all this without delay after you begin, but do 
not begin until the course is nearly removed which 
the pudding is to follow. It must have no time in 
which to fall, darken, or harden. 


TO BOIL A PUDDING IN A TIN BOILER. 


Butter the tin well ; fill it only two thirds full with 
any mixture that swells or rises much; have just 
enough boiling water in a large kettle to boil around 
it whén set in with the pudding in it, without reach- 
ing so near the top as to boil over the tin. 

Keep the outer kettle covered, that the steam 
may surround the pudding-boiler, with the same.ef- 
fect that the surrounding of the water would have. 


APPLE DUMPLING. 


Make a crust with a quart of flour, or with potato 
and flour as just now directed, or a “ Cream Crust.” 


204 ¥UST HOW. 


Have apples pared and cut in small pieces, enough 
to fill the middle of your crust as full as you can fold 
it over them. Pack them carefully, to get in as many 
pieces as possible. A good way is to pare and quar- 
ter, and then chop them. 

Boil three hours and turn out as directed. 

Or: You may make separate dumplings; coring 
and paring the apples, and tying each one, whole, in 
a small cloth by itself. Boil-all in a large pot to- 
gether. They will boil in one hour. 

Or: You may steam dumplings, with or without 
cloth. If with, prepare and tie up in the same way ; 
put in a steamer over boiling water, and cook the 
same length of time, closely covered, and without ve- 
moving the cover. If without tying in a cloth, put 
a large pudding ina round dish which will just hold 
it nicely, so as to keep it in shape; scald and flour 
a cloth that will tuck snugly over it, and so cover it, 
being particular also to cover, and keep covered, the 
steamer. Small dumplings may be put in large cups 
or small bowls, and steamed in the same way. 

You may also bake small dumplings, setting them 
side by side in a biscuit-pan, and placing the pan in 
the oven. Allow an hour to bake, but take out if 
done sooner. 

Peach Dumpling can be made with peaches freshly 
halved, or with canned peaches carefully dipped out 
of their juice, for the filling. 

Serve with dumpling a foamy sauce, or eat it with 
putter and sugar. 





1 
‘ 
. 
x 
’ 
4 
{ 
. 





¥UST HOW. 208 


TO WARM OVER A REMNANT OF APPLE DUMPLING. 


Break up all, crust and apple, lightly and finely, 
with a silver fork. Butter a dish, and put the pud- 
ding in, in nice shape. If you find there is not quite. 
apple enough in proportion to the crust, a little ap- 
ple sauce may be mixed in with it. Drop in some 
bits of butter. 

Cover the whole with a pretty thick layer of white 
sugar, and set in the oven to heat and brown. | 

Serve with sauce, or with cream and sugar. 


HUCKLEBERRY HOLLOW. s 


Make a crust.as for an apple dumpling. Fill with 
huckleberries or blueberries. Boil in the same way. 

You may make a raspberry or a blackberry hol- 
low in like manner. 

Eat with sauce, cold or melted, or with butter and 
sugar, as dumplings. 


PAN-DOWDY. 


Core, pare, and quarter enough tart, juicy apples 
to fill a deep earthen baking-pan. 

Make a crust by either recipe for pastry men- 
tioned on page 35. 

Butter your baking-pan well. 

For a three-quart pan, take a teacup of brown 
sugar, mix with it two teaspoonfuls of cinnamon, 
half a teaspoonful of clove, and a saltspoonful of 
allspice, with a pinch of mace. Mix all with a tea- 
cupful of molasses. 


206 | FUST HOW. 


Put the apples into the pan, scattering in a few 
bits of butter, and stir in the molasses and sugar. 

Roll your crust out into a thick round that will 
cover the pan, fit it over closely, put into a quite 
moderate oven, and keep a moderate, steady fire. 
Bake as long as you can without spoiling the crust. 

When done, take off the crust, break it up in 
small pieces, and mix it with the hot baked apple. 
Set all away to grow quite cold. 

A hearty, homely, excellent dish for dinner or 
tea. 

SOFT-MIXED PUDDINGS. 


BOILED BREAD PUDDING. 


Stem and stone a large cup of raisins. 

Or, cut in bits of raisin size, an equal quantity of 
nice prunes or dates. 

Break in- small pieces a baker’s brick loaf; or 
crumb very finely an equal quantity of light home 
bread. Have a quart of milk boiling in an inner 
kettle. 

Stir the bread into the boiling milk. Keep it 
stirring until you can mash it pretty smoothly and 
soft. Then stir in a cup of sugar, half a cup, good 
measure, of solid butter, and a teaspoonful of salt, 
Also, mix in the fruit. 

Set it off where it will still keep hot, while you 
beat very lightly, — yolks and whites separately, or 
together, as you please, four eggs. Mix with these 
a teaspoonful of cinnamon and half a teaspoonful 
of mace or nutmeg. 








: _- ¥UST How. 207 


Beat the spiced eggs into the pudding, and turn 
the whole into a well buttered tin boiler, and set 
this closely covered into a kettle of boiling water, 
also covered. 

Boil two hours. An hour and a half will do, if 
you are hurried, but two are better. Boil steadily, 
and keep covered, 

To turn it out, pass a long, thin knife around the 
pudding close to the sides of the pan, and reaching 
the bottom. It is a tender pudding, and will some- 
times break in two in dishing. 

Put the dish it is to be served in upside down over 
the boiler, and then turn over the latter. | The pud- 
ding should come out upright, in smooth cylindrical 
shape, with a tender brown surface. . 

Eat with foamy sauce. 


BOILED FRUIT PUDDING. 


Sift three cups of flour, and mix in one teaspoon- 
ful of soda and one of salt. Stir:in one heaping 
cup of stoned raisins, and half a cup of washed and 
dried currants, or, an equal quantity of dates or 
prunes, cut in small bits. 

Cream half a cup of solid butter, mix gradually 
with it one cup of molasses, then one of good milk 
or cream. 

Beat three eggs very light ; whites and yolks sep- 
arately, if you have time, beating both together, as 
usual, when finished. 

Pour the molasses, butter and milk into the mid- 


208 FUST HOW. C 
dle of the flour, and begin to stir, as you do in mak- 
ing a cake batter. Turn the beaten eggs in, as the 
flour mixes, and stir all up well and light. 

Have your pudding-boiler well buttered ; turn in 
the pudding; set it in a kettle of boiling water; 
cover both boiler and kettle. 

Boil two hours. Serve with foaming sauce. 


BOILED INDIAN PUDDING. 


Sift a scant quart of Indian meal, mix with it a 
teaspoonful of salt. 

Boil a quart of milk. Pour it gradually to the 
meal, stirring and beating well and smooth. While 
hot, stir in one cup of broken butter. 

Add, and beat well in, a cup of molasses. 

Have a tin pudding-boiler ready, well buttered, 
and a kettle of boiling water on the fire to set it in. 
These being at hand, dissolve an even teaspoonful 
of finely pulverized soda in as little water as possi- 
ble, beat it quickly and lightly into the pudding 
until it breaks in effervescence; then turn it with- 
out delay into the boiler, cover tight, set in the boil- 
ing water, cover the kettle, and boil steadily for 
three hours. 

Turn out carefully, like a boiled bread pudding. 
Eat with cream or butter. 

Country housewives often mix fruit with these 
puddings for boiling. Sweet apples, pared and cut 
small, or chopped, — or berries, fresh or dried, make 
a good addition. 











GUST HOW. _ 209 


BAKED INDIAN PUDDING. 


Make ready: One scant half-pint of sifted Indian 
meal. — One scant half-pint of molasses. — Two 
round tablespoonfuls of solid butter, creamed. — 
One quart of milk, scalded in a double boiler. 

When the water boils around the milk, turn the 
latter gradually to the meal, stirring evenly. When 
well mixed, return to the boiler, or put in a saucepan 
over the fire, and boil and stir till thickened well 
and smooth, like a porridge. Adda teaspoonful of 
salt. Take from the fire, and stir in the molasses. 

Have ready an earthen baking-pan, well buttered. 

Add the creamed butter to the Passi mixture 
last of all, and beat well. 

Pour into the pan,and bake two pee in a steady 
oven; then stir the pudding thoroughly up, and bake 
from a quarter to half an hour longer. 

Materials and heat of oven may somewhat vary 
the baking at different times; therefore watch, and 
manage accordingly. 

Turn from the pan into a dish for the table. 


HUCKLEBERRY PUDDING. 


Mix like “Huckleberry Cake,’ using full meas 
ure of flour. | 

Boil in buttered tin, like the preceding puddings, 
with care for the close covering and the steady boil- 
ing. Three hours. 


14 


210 | ¥UST HOW. 


PLUM PUDDING, BOILED OR BAKED. 


Make ready: Two cups of cracker crumbs. — 
One cup of stoned raisins. — Half a cup of cur- 
rants, washed and dried. — A quarter of a pound of 
citron, cut in slips. — One teacup of solid butter, 
good measure. — Half a cup of molasses. — One 
cup of sugar. — Two teaspoonfuls of mixed spice. — 
The grated rind of a large lemon; or the dried and 
pounded rind of an orange. — One teaspoonful of 
salt. — One quart of milk. — Six eggs. 


Dredge the fruit with flour, so that each bit will 
be coated. 

Melt the butter, stirring it so that it may not turn 
oily, but be taken off the fire the moment the last 
bit dissolves. Mix this with the cracker crumbs 
until all are buttered and crisped alike. 

Set the milk on to boil in a double boiler. 

Beat the eggs, yolks and whites separately, then 
together. Beat the sugar to these, shaking in the 
spice, and lemon or orange rind. 

Turn the hot milk upon the cracker crumbs, then 
boil up and stir until well thickened. Add the salt 
and molasses. 

Stir in the eggs and sugar. 

Scatter in the fruit, — first the currants, then the 
raisins, then the citron, stirring all the time, to mix 
them evenly, 

Put in a tall earthen mould or pan, well buttered, 








YUST HOW. 211 


and cover. When it begins to bake, stir it up with 
a fork, that the fruit may not settle. Bake three 
quarters of an hour, then uncover to brown. 

Or, boil in a tin mould, like Indian pudding, three 
hours. Uncover, after half an hour, and stir up, as 
in baking, | 


RICE, TAPIOCA, AND SAGO. PUDDINGS. 


All soft-mixed puddings of this. character, which 
are to be baked, are prepared in similar fashion, and 
with the same little specialities to secure their per- 
fection. 

Each of the above-mentioned articles should be 
washed in several waters, and then soaked in part 
of the milk intended for the making of the pudding. 
Each should then be boiled in the whole measure of 
the milk so intended. Then the butter should be 
stirred in hot. Then the sugar and salt. Then 
the yolks of eggs, beaten to a thick foam, with the 
spices. Last of all, the whites of eggs, beaten to 
stiffness. 

The pudding is then poured into a well-buttered 
dish, and set immediately in an oven of the right 
heat for baking cake. 

.It must be watched after it begins to brown ; be- 
ing shielded, if browning too fast, by putting a plate 
or flat dish over it upon the grated oven-shelf. Do 
not cover with paper upon the pudding-dish itself, 
as this will stick to the crust, and tear it off when 
lifted. 

The beauty and deliciousness of these puddings 


212 YUST HOW. 


depend upon a thorough, unhurried baking, and a 


delicately browned, frothy crust. 

Any of them may, if desired, be finished with a 
meringue, 

RICE PUDDING. 

Take a gill of rice for a quart of milk. 

Pick it over carefully, wash it, and soak it in half 
the milk, for an hour or more, as you have time. 

Meanwhile, have ready a cup of sugar, half a cup 
of solid butter, a teaspoonful of cinnamon mixed with 
half a teaspoonful of mace or nutmeg; or, instead 
of spice, the grated rind of a lemon. 

Put the rest of the milk with the rice, and put all 
into a tin inner boiler set in hot water. Boil, stir- 
ring well and often, until the rice is so swelled and 
cooked as to pretty well take up the milk. 

Beat the yolks of four eggs. Then the whites. 

Take the rice and milk from the fire, stir in the 
butter, sugar, and a teaspoonful of salt. 

Beat the spice or other seasoning with the yolks 
of eggs and stir them to the pudding. 

Beat in the whites, and-pour the pudding into the 
buttered dish. 

Bake from three quarters of an hour to an hour; 
until the top is evenly and handsomely browned. 
Turn in the oven as may be needed for baking 
evenly. 

TAPIOCA PUDDING. 

Soak a cupful of tapioca, well washed, in a pint of 
milk. Prepare it early in the forenoon, and let it 
remain as long as time will allow. 


= ae ial 
———— 





YUST HOW. 213 


Add another pint of milk, and proceed precisely 
as with rice pudding. 


SAGO PUDDING. 


Soak acupful of sago, well rinsed, ina pint of milk. 
It will not need to soak more than an hour. 
Proceed as with tapioca. 
Sago pudding is very nice seasoned with mixed 
spice. A round teaspoonful to the above measures. 


LEMON PUDDING. 


Make ready: One quart of milk. — One cupful of 
fine cracker crumbs.— Grated rind and strained 
juice of two lemons. — One heaping cupful of sugar. 
— Half a cupful of solid butter. — Five eggs. 


Boil the milk in an inner boiler. 

Turn it upon the cracker crumbs. When well 
mixed, return to the boiler, and boil and stir till fully 
swelled. This will take but a few minutes. 

Stir in the butter, sugar, salt, and lemon rind. 

Beat the yolks of eggs thoroughly; then the 
whites. 

Beat the yolks to the pudding; then the whites ; 
last of all, quickly, the lemon-juice. 

Turn into a buttered dish, and bake like the pre- 
ceding puddings. 

Orange pudding may be made in the same way. 


~ 


214 ¥YUST HOW. 


SANDWICH PUDDINGS. 


By these I mean puddings of fruit and bread, 
either in slices or crumbs, made in layers, and 
baked. They are all after the same plan, and like 
every other class of dishes may, when understood 
as a class, be varied and multiplied according to 
one’s own pleasure and ingenuity. 


BREAD AND BUTTER PUDDING. 


Cut bread enough in very thin slices to almost fill 
a baking-dish. 

Butter each slice evenly. 

Butter the dish well, and lay the slices in, in lay- 
ers, with washed and dried currants scattered be- 
tween. 

Prepare a custard mixture, by “Custard” recipe, 
using a round teaspoonful of salt, and pour it over 
the slices so arranged, filling the dish. Keep what 
is left to fill up with. 

Let it stand and soak, putting a plate over it to 
keep the bread down, until thoroughly soft. Add 
any remainding custard, as the bread takes up the 
first. 

It will take an hour or more to soak, and you 
must allow an hour for baking. 

Eat with foaming sauce. 








UST HOW. 218 


BREAD AND BUTTER PLUM PUDDING. 


Make ready: Two baker’s brick loaves, of which 
you will not use quite the whole. — Three pints of 
milk. — Nine eggs.— One cup of sugar, and one of 
molasses. — Grated rind of one lemon.—One cup 
and a half of stoned raisins. — One teacup of cur- 
rants, washed and dried. — Half a pound of citron, 
in slips. — A teaspoon of salt.— Two of mixed spices. 


Cut the bread in slices half an inch thick. Butter 
them thickly. 

Butter thickly a deep earthen pan. . 

Put in a layer of the buttered bread, cutting and 
fitting the slices so as to neatly fill the round of the 
pan. : 
Scatter over this layer some of each kind of your 
fruit, — also the lemon rind, —distributing in pro- 
portion of each according to the proportions of your 
whole quantities. 

Continue in this way until you have nearly filled 
the pan, leaving space of perhaps one layer — not 
much more — for the swelling of the bread and the 
filling up of the custard. 

Boil the milk; beat the eggs, adding the spices ; 
put the sugar, salt, and molasses into the hot milk ; 
turn this gradually to the beaten eggs; all in ac- 
cordance with directions for mixing custard. 

Pour the custard over the pudding until the pan 
is full; then let it soak until you can pour in more 


216 YUST HOW. 


Keep the custard well stirred as you go on, that the 
spices may not settle; also pour in at the sides and 
into any interstices, that all may reach downward as 
equally as possible. Do this until you have got in 
the whole or all you can. Cover with a plate a little 
smaller than the pan, press down, and let stand sev- 
eral hours, —adding from time to time any remain- 
ing custard. . 

Another way — and perhaps the best —is to pre- 
pare the custard as soon as your bread is buttered, 
and all else ready ; then place the layers, and pour 
over each some of the custard; finish by pouring in 
all you can and letting soak down as just directed. 

Turn a dish or pan over it when you remove the 
plate and put it in the oven. This is to keep the 
top from burning, and at the same time allow the 
pudding to rise. Bake slowly as long as you can 


without drying and scorching; removing the cover - 


toward the last, to let the top brown. 

You will perceive when it is done, by its evident 
consistence, and light, but outwardly crisp, perfec- 
tion. Allow two hours. 

Make a fine foaming sauce to eat with it. 


This pudding is even better when warmed over 
than at the first serving. 

Cut it in slices; put the remainder of the sauce 
—or, if none is left, some fresh made —in a large 
clean frying-pan ; lay the slices in, and as they heat, 
turn them and change them, so as to fry and brown 





ao 





FUST HOW. 217 


them a little. Serve in a dish with the sauce poured 
over them. 

A sauce for this warming up may be quickly im- 
provised, without all the beating necessary for the 
first foaming sauce. Stir the usual proportions of 
butter and sugar slightly together, putting a very 
little hot water to them to melt them; then turn into 
the pan, with a cup of boiling water to the one cup 
each of butter and sugar. Remember, however, that 
it must be a scant measure of broken butter to a 
heaping measure of sugar. 

Stir together, and let the sauce simmer up; then 
lay in the slices of pudding. Let the heating and 
browning go on slowly, for twenty minutes or half 
an hour. 

Still less butter may be used if you do not like so 


rich a dish. 
APPLE SANDWICH. 


Butter well very thin slices of light, sweet bread. 

Pare and slice thinly some mellow, pleasantly acid 
apples. 

Have ready a well-buttered baking-dish, a bowl of 
sugar, and the mace and cinnamon boxes. 

Place a layer of bread and butter in the bottom of 
the dish, and just wet it through with hot water. 

Over this put a layer, several slices deep, of apple. 
Sprinkle it with sugar, scatter a good pinch of cin- 
namon evenly over it, and then a very tiny pinch of 
mace. 

Repeat these layers, using always the proportions 


218 SFUST HOW. 


indicated, until the dish is full. Let the last layer be 
of bread, and butter these slices on both sides. Wet 
the last layer, like the first, with a little hot water. 

Cover with an inverted plate held down with a 
weight, and bake slowly as long as you can without 
overdoing to dryness. Allow two hours, and take 
out sooner if well done. 

Remove the plate once or twice, and baste the top 
of the pudding, if needed, with a few spoonfuls of 
hot water in which a little butter is melted. If the 
apples are not very juicy, it is well to pour a little 
water into the pudding at the sides. 

Toward the end of the baking, remove the plate 
altogether, and let the crust brown nicely. You had 
better do this half an hour before taking the pud- 
ding out. 

Eat with cream and sugar. 


BERRY SANDWICH. 


Make in the same way as the preceding, except 
that you substitute huckleberries, blueberries, black- 
berries, or raspberries, for the apple. 

Put in deep layers of the fruit, and use sugar 
plentifully, especially with acid berries. 

The same pudding may be made with prepared 
fruit sauce, of such kinds as need stewing — as goose- 
berries, rhubarb, plum, etc. Also with fresh or 
canned peaches ; indeed, with almost any fruit or 
preserve ; but berries, well heaped in and pa 
bear the palm. 

Eat with sugar and cream. 








FUST. HOW. 219 


APPLE OR BERRY SCALLOP. 


Prepare a sufficient quantity, —say a cup and a 
half for a common-sized pudding, of fine cracker 
crumbs. 

Melt half a cupful of butter, and stir with the 
crumbs, till they are evenly and separately short- 
ened. 

Butter a dish, and put in crumbs and sugared 
fruit in layers, as in the preceding recipes. Wet 
the first and last layers of crumbs with hot water, 
and make light layers of crumbs throughout. 

In using any fruit which is not abundantly juicy, 
it will be necessary to moisten each layer, or even to 
pour some hot water—a teacupful or more — over 
the whole when you have filled the dish. 


MERINGUE. 


A meringue is a dainty addition to very many 
puddings. It is also very convenient in making a 
second use of pudding remaining from a first day’s 
dinner. You can break the remnant up lightly into 
small bits, place them in a fresh dish well buttered, 
and pile a meringue on the top. Put into a slow 
oven, that the pudding may heat through by the 

time the meringue browns. 


Make a simple icing, as directed for icing cake. 
Flavor it in any way you prefer. Pile it up high on 
the top of a pudding or pie, and set in the oven until 
it browns, 


220 YUST HOW. 


The whole dish should be co/d when put together. 
Anything hot will liquefy the white of egg before it 
sets, so that there will be a disagreeable glutinous 
liquid between the meringue and that which is be- 
low it. : 


BATTER AND CUSTARD PUDDINGS. 


BATTER PUDDING. 


Make ready: Two cups of sifted flour.— Two 
cups of milk.— Four eggs, yolks and whites sepa- 
ate. — One scant teaspoonful of salt. — Two salt- 
spoonfuls of cream-tartar, and one of soda. 


Mix the cream-tartar with the flour. 

Dissolve the salt and soda in a little of the milk. 

With the rest of the milk, stir the flour gradually 
to a smooth batter, and beat it well, according to the 
directions for a ‘Simple Batter,” in the early part 
of this book. 

Beat the yolks of eggs to a thick froth. 

Beat the whites till they stand alone. 

Beat both together, and then into the batter. 

Have your pudding-boiler well buttered, and your 
boiling-water kettle in readiness, and last of all, beat 
the dissolved salt and soda into the batter, and im- 
mediately put it in the tin, and that into the kettle. 
Boil two hours, wzthout stopping. 

The same pudding may be baked. Three quar- 
ters of an hour to an hour. 





> al 
eS ee ee 





YUST HOW. 221 


SUNDERLAND PUDDINGS. 
Made like “ Popovers.” Eat with foaming sauce. 


PANCAKES. 


Made like batter pudding, and fried, by spoonfuls, 
in boiling lard, like doughnuts. 

Have them fried while the meat course is being 
eaten, piled on a dish, and sugar sifted over them. 

Eat with sugar and wine, sugar and cider, or sugar 
and lemon-juice. 


CUSTARD PUDDING. 


Boil one quart of rich milk. 

Meanwhile, beat, without separating, six eggs. 

Take off the boiled milk, stir into it a cup of sugar 
and a teaspoonful, barely level, of salt. 

Turn the milk, slowly, to the beaten eggs, stirring 
as you do so. 

Flavor with any essence. A teaspoonful of dried 
and pounded orange peel, boiled in the milk, is nice. 


/ 


This may be boiled, steamed, or baked. 

If the first, put the custard in a pitcher; set the 
pitcher in a kettle with boiling water round it. Take 
a long spoon, and stir it constantly and thoroughly, 
until it thickens to a consistence like that of rich 
cream. This is one of the delicate, critical things 
in cookery. It must really thicken ; but it must not 
stay on the fire an instant after it comes to the right 


222 YUST HOW. 


point. Watch the color and the feel of it, as you 
stir. The former will change from the raw egg yel- 
low to a mellow, pale shade. The different con- 
sistence will be apparent to touch and sound. You 
should also try it constantly after the first signs of 
cooking appear, by both pouring from the spoon 
and tasting. You can judge by the soft, thick way 
of dropping, and the especial cooked flavor of a cus- ~ 
tard as you will recognize it. 

It will thicken a good deal in cooling ; therefore 
do not expect to make it reach the familiar fable 
consistency before removing it from the fire <A 
custard will curdle the moment it has passed the 
thickening point. 

To steam custard, put the whole in a round dish, 
and set it in a steamer over boiling water. Cover, 
and leave between ten and fifteen minutes. Then 
watch till done. To determine this, lift the steamer 
off, set it on a table, and try by slightly tipping and 
shaking the dish. Also, by putting the thin blade 
of a silver knife into the middle of it. It should 
tremble with a coherency, like a very delicate jelly ; 
and the knife should show a czf¢, not a liquid centre. 

To steam in cups, set as many as you conveniently 
can in the steamer, and fill them with the custard 
from a ladle or a little pitcher. Cover the steamer, 
set it over the boiling water, and leave ten minutes, 
or a little less, if the cups are small. Then watch 
and test as custard in a dish. 

For daking custard, allow twenty minutes, then 





FUST HOW. 223 


watch and test as before. Watch cups after ten 
minutes. 


PIES. 


APPLE PIE. 


Pare and quarter —taking out all the core from 
each quarter, by cutting around it to the depth 
marked by the little vein-line — enough pleasant ap- 
ples to fill a deep baking-dish, well buttered. 

Cover them with a thick layer of sugar, and drop 
over it three tablespoonfuls of rose-water, and some 
scattered bits of butter. 

Put a rim of pie-crust, an inch wide, around the 
dish above the apple, roll out enough for a cover, 
and fititon. Make a little cutiin the middle of the 
cover, and press the edges slightly apart, to afford 
an escape for the steam. 

Bake in an oven that heats well at the bottom, 
and take out when the crust is nicely done. 


SLICED APPLE PIE. 


Pare the apples and slice them very thin. 

Butter your pie-plates, and cover each with crust. 
Fit the paste into the curve of the plate, letting it 
drop in and gently smoothing it towards the edges. 

Put. in an even layer of apple, covering the bottom 
well. Sprinkle it with sugar, and scatter finely, 
from between your finger and thumb, a small pinch 
of cinnamon upon it. Grate overit the merest dust 
of nutmeg. 


224 YUST HOW. 


Repeat the layer of apple. Lay slices all around 
the rim, ends outward, and lapping one slice neatly 
over another. The tips of these slices should be 
just within the outermost edge of the pie. 

Sugar this second layer, and scatter cinnamon 
and nutmeg, as you did over the first. If your 
plate is not yet sufficiently full, put a third layer of 
apple in the middle, within the row of lapped slices. 
Sugar and spice in same proportion as before. Put 
a few little bits of butter over all. 

Take just enough paste from the bowl to roll into 
a round to cover. Fit it on, not stretching it, but 
allowing it rather to drop within the rim, that it may 
not shrink from the edges in baking. Trim the 
edge, and make a little stab in the middle. 

Bake in an even, steady oven. When the crust 
is done, the apple ought to be ; but you can examine 
it by lifting the edge of the upper-crust carefully. If 
it requires more time, and the crust does not, put a 
paper over the pie, and, if necessary, raise it from 
the bottom of the oven by slipping the grating, or a 
hot tin plate, under it. 

Be sure and have the under-crust well done. You 
can ascertain this by lifting the pie from the plate 
with a knife. The whole pie should slip upon the 
plate, if properly baked. 


SAUCE-FILLED APPLE PIES, 


Fill a buttered earthen pan with tart apples, 
pared and sliced. The slices need not be very thin. 


i a i i, 


SS Ee 





FUST HOW. 225 


Scatter in grated lemon or orange peel, adding the 
juice ; or sprinkle with cinnamon and nutmeg, as in 
making “Sliced Apple Pie,” and put in a spoonful 
or two of water. Cover with a thick layer of sugar, 
and drop some small bits of butter uponit. Puta 
plate over, and bake till soft. 

Put away till perfectly cold, before filling the pies. 

Cover the pie-plate, which should be of the old- 
fashioned kind recommended in Section I., with flat 
rims, with an under-crust; roll out a piece of paste 
in a strip, and cut it into rim-trimmings three quar- 
ters of an inch wide. Wet your finger in a cup of 
cold water, and pass it around the edge of the under- 
crust. Lay the border-strip of paste neatly on the 
rim, cutting it to meet in an even join. 

Fill up to the border with the cooked apple, cover 
with another round of paste, nicely trimmed at the 
edge, and prick this top-crust ten or twelve times, at 
regular distances, with a fork. 

Bake till the crust is handsomely done. 


RHUBARB PIE. 


Peel the rhubarb stalks, and cut them in very 
small bits. 

Fill the pies in layers, well covered with sugar. 
Grated lemon peel is the nicest flavoring for rhubarb 
pies. They do not neéd the juice. 

Make up and manage just like apple pies. Make 
a good cut in the upper-crust, as rhubarb is very 
juicy, and the syrup will easily boil out. 7 

| 15 


226 YUST HOW. 


CHERRY, BERRY, PEACH, AND OTHER FRUIT PIES, 


Are made in like manner to the above. They should 
always be made in deep plates or dishes, because of 
their abundant juiciness. Shallow nappies are the 
best. 

Summer fruits require no flavor but their own. 
Spices are an impertinence. 

Cherries should be stoned. Peaches, of course, 
are pared and cut up. 

Raspberries are best without an upper-crust. 

Cranberry tarts, pie-size or small, are simply made 
by filling the paste with a strained cranberry sauce. 
Prepare the berries as directed in that recipe, so far 
as the scalding and stewing are concerned. When 
they have boiled the required time, take them off 
and rub them through the sifter, and set away to 
grow cold. Just before filling the pies, stir in the 
same measure of sugar as for cranberry sauce, but 
cold. It will then bake, in the pies, to the right 
consistence. No covers, of course. Little strips of 
paste, cut with notched edges, by a wheel cake-cut- 
ter, may be laid across the tops. But I prefer to 
have simple broad rims to the tarts, and then serve 
little pastry strips, in a separate dish, for those who 
like the accompaniment. 

For these strzps, roll out a sheet of paste as near 
arectangular shape as you can, and cut, with a sharp 
knife dipped in flour, very narrow ribbons, not more 
than a quarter of an inch wide. Divide these into 





FUST HOW. 227 


finger lengths, and bake in pans. They are very 
crisp and delicious with custards and other sweet 
dishes, and with coffee. 

For small zarts: Roll out a sheet of paste, and 
cut rounds of the size of atumbler. From half of 
these, cut out the centre with a smaller cutter. For 
the two sizes, a sharp-edged tumbler and a wine- 
glass will answer. 

The rings to be laid on the moistened edges of 
the whole, large rounds, for borders. The little 
rounds to be baked for pastry-cakes. 

Fill the tartlets up to the level of the borders, for 
making which it is well to roll the paste thicker than 
for the under-crust. 

They may be filled with pie-mixture, and baked ; 
or filled after baking with jam or jelly. 


LEMON PIE. 


Grate the rind and strain the juice of two lemons. 

Core, pare, and chop fine one large, tart apple. 

Pound one soft cracker very fine. | 

Melt two teaspoonfuls of butter, and mix with the 
cracker crumbs. 

Mix the lemon rind and juice with the chopped 
apple, and stir with them two level cups of sugar. 

Beat the yolks of two eggs to thick froth, then 
the whites to stiffness, then both together. Beat 
these with the lemon, apple, and sugar. 

Mix the buttered crumbs with all. 

Cover pie-plates, put a broad rim around their 


228 FUST HOW. 


edges, and fill as tarts with the mixture. Bake 
twenty minutes, or until the crust is done. © 
Orange pie in the same way, with less sugar. 


CUSTARD PIE. 


Make your pie-crust before you begin your cus- 
tard. 

Take a quart of the richest milk you can get. If 
half cream, it will be none too good, though one 
may be thankful for less. The reason for requiring 
this richness is that the custard must be prepared 
cold. The cooking comes in the oven. And un- 
boiled milk makes, other things equal, a much in- 
ferior custard to that which is boiled. 

Beat the yolks of four eggs very light. Then the 
whites. Then both together. 

Spill a level teacupful of sugar into the eggs, and 
beat all well. 

Add gradually the milk, and stir thoroughly to- 
gether. Put in a level teaspoonful of salt, and a tea- 
spoonful or more of any flavoring essence. If you 
prefer spice, that should. be stirred into the eggs 
and sugar before the milk is added. 

After covering your deep pie-plates, and rimming 
them handsomely with paste, fill them early full 
with the custard mixture, stirring it before each fill- 
ing. Set the plates in the oven, and then, with a 
little pitcher or a ladle, fill them up carefully to the 
rims. A custard or squash pie should never have 
the filling dripped or slopped over upon the edge- 
crusts. 





GUST HOW. 229 


Watch, turn, protect above, with a pasteboard or 
thick paper slid upon the oven grating, if the cus- 
tard threatens to brown too fast or blister. Bake 
till the custard is firm, see “ Custard Pudding,’ and 
the crust is done. 


SQUASH PIE. 


Prepare as for the dinner table, by steaming, mash- 
ing, and seasoning with butter and salt, enough of 
a very nices quash to make, when ready, about a 
pint and a half. 

While the squash is being steamed and mashed, 
make a custard as for custard pudding. Turn this 
custard, gradually, while still hot, to a pint ‘of the 
hot squash, stirring smoothly. You can add a part, 
or all of the remainder of the squash, as you find 
needful, or as suits your taste, I think squash pie 
is nicest to be made with good custard, and rather 
thin than thick with the squash; but many like a 
really substantial mixture, true to its name. If #00 
thin, there will be danger of the custard forming 
separately, at the top,in baking. I should say, leave 
it by no means liquid, but do not make a pudding of 
it. _ Bring it to a just perceptible squash consistency, 
that looks and tastes as if it would keep and confirm 
its character in the cooking. Perhaps a good rule 
is to make" it of the quality of a custard very deli- 
cately thickened by boiling. 

Fill and bake like custard pie. 


Sd 


230 FUST HOW. 


MINCE PIES. 

The proportions of the following recipe are given 
as a good basis, When these are mixed, taste, and 
judgment must decide if the quantity of any of the 
ingredients would better be increased. I have kept 
far within the average limits of the cook-books in 
respect of spices, for I always prefer to leave some- 
thing to be added, and I believe in subdued undis- 
tinguishable flavors, rather than those at all exag- 
gerated or pronounced, 

I prescribe ‘“ Mixed Spices,’ directions for which 
will be found elsewhere in the book ; therefore ad- 
dition may be easily made, without altering tone un- 
less you desire to alter it. 

You may use either suet or butter in preparing 
mince-meat. I like the latter myself and it is far 
less trouble. 

Whatever further moistening may be needed, after 
using what is given in measure below, may be made 
up with any syrup you may have left from preserved 
fruit, water with jelly dissolved in it, as you would 
prepare for a summer drink, or molasses and boil- 
ing water, mixed half and half. The vinegar-syrup 
from sweet pickle is nice to help out the mixture. 
Or you may boil some vinegar-syrup on purpose, — 
equal measures of sugar and cider-vinegar. Just 
make the whole liquid mixture a pleasant counter- 
action of sweet and sour, the dvigh¢ taste prevailing. 

Be sure that there is salt enoygh to bring out all 


a 








¥YUST HOW. 231 


the other flavor. Often, when a higher flavor seems 
necessary the apparent tameness is only a deficiency 
of this. Salt may be used to the verge of ¢asting 
salt ; never beyond. 


Make ready, — at a convenient time beforehand, 
—for every two pounds of meat: Two pounds of 
fine raisins, stoned, and cut with a clean pair of 
Scissors into bits, about three each. — One pound of 
dried currants, thoroughly washed, dried, and picked 
over. — Half a pound of citron cut in slips. 


Make ready, —the day before you make your 
pies: A good fresh beef-tongue, washed; put on 
in boiling water with a handful of salt in it, and 
boiled till perfectly tender. Try it with the knit- 
ting-needle. When done, take it out, skin it, and 
return it to the hot liquor. Let all grow cold to- 
gether. 

If you use suet, take one pound to two of meat, 
pull off all the thin membrane, separating and pick- 
ing over the pieces of suet thus detached, and chop 
it, in a cool place that it may not grow cloggy by 
melting, until it is as fine as dust. Set it away to 
keep cool till the meat is ready. 

When the meat is cooked and cold, trim away 
from it all gristle, and poor, unpalatable parts, with 
bits of bone, about the roots. Weigh, of the nice, 
selected portion, whatever quantity you wish to 
make into mince. I am giving measures of other 


236 FUST HOW. 


ingredients suited to two pounds of meat, which 
will make as much mince, when all put together, as 
would ordinarily be worth while to prepare at one 
time. 

Chop this meat just as fine as you can. 

Now mix it thoroughly with the powdered suet. 
Or, if you use butter instead, take a short-weight 
pound for the two pounds of meat, or measure a 
pint of broken butter, in pieces small enough to lie 
fairly close, but not packed. Melt it, stirring it till 
it liquefies. Then mix it with the chopped meat. 

A fine housekeeper tells me, as I read this over 
to her, that a piece of nice salt pork, perfectly fat, 
boiled about an hour to take away the rawness, and 
chopped fine, is an excellent substitute for suet. In 
chopping, put a little of the chopped meat into the 
tray with it to keep it from clogging. 

Take four heaping tablespoonfuls of mixed spice. 
— Two heaping tablespoonfuls of salt. — Four heap- 
ing cups of brown sugar. — Grated rind of four 
large lemons. 

Mix these well together, and all with the chopped 
meat. 

Take juice of the four lemons.—Two cups of 
molasses. — Two cups of boiled cider.— One cup 
of brandy, and one of wine.! 

Mix these together, and well into the mince-meat. 

1 Equal measure of some spicy fruit and vinegar-syrup, as suggested 


on page 230, will quite well substitute these two last, — be more eco- 
nomical, and less open to objection. Sweeten accordingly. 








FUST HOW. 233 


Lastly, stir in your fruit, one kind after another, 
raisins, currants, citron, till all is equally mixed. 
Do all this last stirring with your hand. 

Pack the mince into a bowl or jar, cover tight, and 
set away till the next day. 

Make ready, the morning of your pie-making, 
enough apple, chopped into jam, to measure twice 
as much as the chopped meat. Mix, with your 
hands, apple and meat thoroughly together. 

Now, if necessary, add moistening, according to 
suggestion in preliminary paragraphs. Make the 
whole as soft and moist as an easily stirred — not 
watery — sauce. 

Taste carefully, and see that salt and sugar are 
right, and use your own discretion as to increasing 
or modifying flavors. Remember the injunction in 
regard to flavoring soups: Every condiment should 
hide ttself, and help all the rest. 

Make your crust by directions for best pastry. 
Fill and make up your pies as shown for apple 
ples. | 

Bake the crust handsomely ; the meat is already 
cooked; and if the apples are mellow, juicy, and 
well chopped, they will be done also. 


234 FUST HOW. 


SECTION III. 


RECIPES. 


PART X.— JELLIES, BLANC-MANGES, AND CREAMS. 


JELLIES. 


The jellies treated of in this division are water 
jellies ; prepared with the natural gelatine of meats, 
calves’ feet, veal, chicken, etc., or with the manu- 
factured gelatine; also with sea-moss, or with fari- 
naceous thickenings, as arrowroot, corn-starch, tapi- 
oca, sago. 

They are of the same order, and are used for sim- 
ilar serving, at desserts, etc., with blanc-manges and 
creams. The meat jellies, with merely a broth | 
seasoning,—and the spiced jellied-meat, — depart 
from the last classification, but are nevertheless of 
the same order still; therefore I put them here, 
with the recipes of which they are but a variation ; 
the aim being always in this little grammar to illus- 
trate principles of composition, and to let one so 
lead up to another in practice that no prescription 
shall be an arbitrary thing of rote and memory, but 
shall almost make itself, as a natural corollary from 
all which immediately precedes. 


JELLY-BAG. 


Take a square half yard of firm, closely- A 


woven, unbleached sheeting, and double A | 
it, thus : : 








FUST HOW. 235 


Now turn up the corner B, to the middle AL 
of the open edge A, thus: 
Turn up the corner c, to the middle ees 


A 
on the other side, thus: 
Pin or baste the folds at the top, and you VW 


can then open the edges and have a pointed bag, in 
which there is no seam for leakage or accumulation. 
The pointed ends of the opening can be doubled 
down for the running through of two sticks, or rods, 
which will support the bag across a jar or other- 
wise, for the dripping of the jelly. 

Four pins will accomplish the shaping, there will 
be no need of a cane or whalebone to hold the mouth 
open, and when done with at one time the bag can 
be unpinned and washed as a plain square of cloth. 
Hem the edges for the sake of neatness and dura- 
bility. Scald and wring out before using. 


COXE’S GELATINE, 


An ordinary ounce and a half package of Coxe’s 
Gelatine will make three pints of any water, fruit- 
juice, or wine and water jelly. 

A package of gelatine measures a gill and a half, 
equivalent to about six round tablespoonfuls. You 
can divide, accordingly, into smaller proportions, in 
making smaller quantities, or, still better, cut empty 
boxes into lesser measures: a half, a two thirds, and 
a single third. You will find these the fractions 
usually required. 

Of sea moss: A round tablespoonful will make a 
quart of jelly. 


-236 FUST HOW. 


Of arrowroot or corn-starch: Three tablespoonfuls 
will make a quart of jelly. 

Of sago or tapioca: One cupful will make a quart 
of jelly. 

Allow for wine, lemon-juice, or rose-water to be 
added ; taking the measure from the measure of the 
water. A g7// will allow for four lemons. 


WINE JELLY. 


Make it the day before using; or early in the 
morning for use at evening. 

Put a box of gelatine into a bowl with a half-pint 
and a gill of cold water, and soak it from fifteen 
minutes to half an hour, as you have time. It must 
be swelled and softened to a jelly-like consistency. 

Grate the rind and squeeze the juice of four lem- 
ons. Put as much sugar into the lemon-juice as it 
will take up, not zwaztizg to let it dissolve, but stir- 
ring it in quickly, until thick. Mix the grated rind 
with this. 

Pour one pint and a half of boiling water to the 
lemon and sugar; stir; then stir in the gelatine 
until dissolved. 

Add a half-pint of wine, which makes up, with the 
lemon-juice, the liquid measure; stir; then strain 
into moulds, or a bowl. 

Set on the ice, or in the coldest place you have, 
until it hardens. 

When cooled in a bowl, cut it across and across 
with a silver knife, and fill your glass dishes from it 








GUST HOW. 287 


with a spoon: breaking it up as much as you can 
into crystals, and piling it lightly. 

In a liquid form, it is a very nice and strengthen- 
ing drink for invalids. It can be kept liquid by put- 
ting it warm into a bottle, and taking care to set it 
where there will be warmth enough to prevent har- 
dening. It can also be heated over at any time. 


LEMON JELLY. 


Soak a package of gelatine in a pint, less one gill, 
of water. 

Make a rich lemonade in the same way as by pre- 
vious recipe. Saturate the juice with sugar, and mix 
in the grated rinds. 

Pour a quart of boiling water to it. 
Stir in the gelatine ; strain, and set away. 


ORANGE JELLY. 


Grate the rind and squeeze the juice of six juicy 
oranges. Add the juice of one lemon. 

Soak a package of gelatine in a pint of water. 

Mix with the rind and juice three gills of sugar. 

Pour on enough boiling water to make a quart. 

Add the gelatine; stir, and strain, set away to 
harden. 

Ihave given an average measurement for the 
sugar. Of course, the quality of the oranges may 
require more or less. Reserve a part, if the fruit is 
sweet, and add, “to taste,” after the gelatine is in. 

In making either orange or lemon jelly, do not 


238  « FUST AOW. 


strain the juice of the fruit. If a portion of pulp 
squeezes in with it, all the better for getting the 
whole benefit of juice and flavor. The straining is 
done when all is mixed. 


JELLY OF FRUIT-JUICE. 


Any fruit jelly, for immediate use, may be made 
from the fruit-juice, sweetened to taste, and the 
usual proportion of gelatine, a package for three 
pints, soaked in as little water as possible, till soft. 

Fresh fruits may be mashed or chopped, with 
sugar to sweeten, and allowed to stand till the juice 
can be pressed and strained off. 

Or, you may obtain the juice as directed for “ Fruit 
Jellies ; simply sweeten it, and add the soaked gel- 
atine, a package for three pints of juzce. You need 
make no account of the water used for soaking the 
gelatine, as the fruit-juice itself will have so much 
of the jellying quality. 

Whether the juice be cold or hot-pressed, put it 
on the fire after you have strained it from the fruit, 
boil, and skim it, before you pour it to the gelatine, 
then strain the whole through your jelly-bag. 


SEA-MOSS JELLY. 


Put a quart of boiling water, less one gill, into a 
saucepan. Shave into it the yellow rind of four 
lemons. Squeeze and strain the juice into a cup. 

Set the saucepan on the fire, and let the water 
boil a few minutes, until the lemon flavor is ex- 


er 





GUST HOW. 239 


tracted from the rind and the water is colored by 
it. Then take the pan off a little while, letting the 
water cool down from the boil toa heat that you 
could put your finger to. 

Measure a well-filled, but not heaping table-spoon- 
ful of moss farina. Shake it into the water with the 
lightest, most gradual sprinklings, stirring all the 
while with a spoon in the other hand. Set the pan 
on the fire again, and stir until the moss is all dis- 
solved. 

Continue to watch and stir it until it comes toa 
boil, then set it back, or on the top of a teakettle, 
where it will keep at the scalding point, but not . 
boil, for some time. You may leave it for your own 
convenience, stirring it now and then; but an hour 
is a good length of time, and less will do, if. neces- 
sary. It must become clear; and will be more so 
for standing in a liquid state a good while before 
being set away to jelly. To keep it liquid is all 
that is needful after the first half hour. You may 
therefore remove it from the stove or hot kettle, 
and merely set it where it will be warm. 

While it is still hot, however, add the lemon-juice 
made thick with sugar, as directed in “ Wine Jelly,” 
and a gill of wine, or more, to your taste. Use good 
sherry or Madeira. 

Strain through a fine strainer or a jelly-bag. 

This is a very pleasant jelly, and highly strength- 
ening and nourishing. I have not allowed, in this 
recipe, for the measure of the lemon-juice, in mak- 


240 ¥UST HOW. 


ing up the quart ; because the water is to boil long 
enough with the rind in it, to obtain the flavor ; 
which will have sufficiently reduced it. 


TAPIOCA, OR SAGO JELLY. 


Soak a cupful of either—tapioca four ‘or five’ 


hours, sago an hour or more —in a pint of water, 
first washing and rinsing well. 

Adda pint of boiling water, stirring well, and set 
on the fire in a double boiler. Stir as it boils, until 
it absorbs the water, and grows clear and jelly-like. 

Put ina level teaspoonful of salt, a teacup of sugar, 
and flavor as you fancy. “Rose-water — three table- 
spoonfuls added after the jelly is partially cooled — 
is perhaps the nicest addition. 

Eat with cream. 


APPLE AND SAGO. 


Make a preparation of sago as for “Sago Jelly,” 
by soaking, pouring the boiling water to it, and stir- 
ring over the fire till it begins to thicken. Stir in 
the grated rind and strained juice of a lemon, anda 
level teaspoonful of salt. 

Pare and core —leaving no bits of hull — enough 
tart, juicy apples to fill a baking-dish when laid into 
it side by side. 

Mix a teaspoonful of cinnamon with a cupful of 
sugar, fill the holes of the apples, and scatter the 
rest over the whole. Grate some nutmeg lightly 
over the surface. 





UST HOW. 241 


Pour your sago around and all over the apples, 
filling up the dish. 

Bake three quarters of an hour, or as long as you 
can without drying or scorching. The apples must 
be thoroughly cooked. Cover the dish-until nearly 
done; then brown. 

Eat with sugar and cream. 


CALF’S-FOOT JELLY. 


Take four feet, scalded and scraped; put them on 
to boil in four quarts of water, with the thinly 
shaved yellow rind of four lemons, and one tea- 
spoonful of powdered mace. 

Boil till the water is reduced to two quarts, and 
the feet are all boiled to pieces. Then strain off 
the liquor through a colander, and again through a 
gravy-strainer. Set away till next day. 

Take off every particle of fat from the cold jelly. 
Pat and wipe the surface with soft paper, or thin, 
soft muslin, to remove all greasy moisture. 

Turn it out, and take off all the sediment from 
the bottom. 

Cut up the jelly and put it in a nice preserving- 
kettle, with the juice of the four lemons and one 
pint of best granulated sugar. 

Beat the whites of two eggs to stiffness, and stir 
in as the jelly melts. Boil twenty minutes, skimming 
carefully. Meanwhile, soak two ‘tablespoonfuls of 
gelatine in cold water to cover it. Take off the 


jelly ; add the soaked gelatine and a pint of good 
16 


242 : ¥UST HOW. 


sherry wine; stir till gelatine dissolves, and then let 
it settle for ten minutes. 

Place your jelly-bag,;—see “ Jelly-bag,’ — after 
wringing it out of scalding water, across a jar, or be- 
tween two supports over a bowl or jar, with a thin 
towel, also wrung out of scalding water, pinned to 
the top of it so as to drop a little within it. 

Dip off the jelly carefully into these, a little at a 
time, filling up as it runs through the bag. Keep it 
by the fire till all strained; then pour into wet 
moulds and set in a cold place. A 


VEAL, OR CHICKEN JELLY. 


Cut or chop the meat. Break and pound the 
bones. 

Pack into a kettle, and fill this to three times the 
depth of the meat, with cold water, as directed for 
making soup. 

Put in the rind of a lemon, thinly shaved, for 
every quart, and a teaspoonful of mace for four 
quarts. 

Boil down to half, and set away the liquor till 
next day. 

Finish, the next day, like calf’s-foot jelly in every 
particular, adapting the proportions of sugar, whites 
of eggs, gelatine, and wine to the quantity of jelly 
you have, according to that recipe. The juice of 
the lemons whose rinds you have used is already 
proportioned by the same rule. 


NS 








JUST HOW. 243 


VEAL, OR CHICKEN JELLY, PLAIN. 


Made by the same process as the preceding. 
The difference is in the seasoning, which is simply 
salt, pepper, and a little mace, put in with the first 
boiling of the meat. A teaspoonful of salt, and a 
saltspoonful of mace, to every two quarts of water, 
with white pepper added in careful “scatters,” tast- 
ing as you go, just toward the last, will do for a rule. 
_ Boil down to half, and set away. In finishing the 
next day, by the “Calf’s-Foot” recipe as to clearing 
and straining, you may add to your first seasoning 
any further quantity of the same ingredients that 
may seem to your taste to be required. Keep it 
delicate. It should have the simple savoriness of 
a nice broth. 

If the jelly was quite firm after the first cooling, 
you will not need to use gelatine, as in “ Calf’s-Foot 
Jelly,” to which wine, etc., are added. 


JELLIED VEAL, OR CHICKEN. 


Cut meat and bone into convenient pieces, but do 
not mince or bruise them. Pack in a kettle, and 
caver with cold water to three times the depth of 
the meat in the kettle. 

Boil slowly, skimming as it boils, until the bones 
slip out. 

Boil an onion, separately, for every three quarts 
of water with the veal. 

Take out the meat and bones, when done as above, 


244 ¥UST HOW. 


and set back the liquor where it will keep hot, but 
not boil. 

Pick out all the nice part of the meat; and shop 
it very fine. 

Mix with it, for every pint, a teaspoonful of salt, 
a pinch of mace, a pinch of celery salt, one of sweet 
marjoram, and a ¢zzy one of pepper. 

Put back into the broth, and boil down, stirring 
carefully, especially toward the end, till thick, like 
pudding. Taste while boiling, and add any of the 
seasoning ingredients, as you may; think desirable. 

Strain in a little lemon-juice; say, one lemon to 
three quarts of jelly. , 

Put into a straight-sided dish or earthen pan, 
either round or square, and let it harden. 

Cut in slices, or serve whole. Very nice for the 
tea-table. 

BLANC-MANGES,. 


Blanc-manges. are milk jellies. They also are of 


two kinds, gelatinous and farinaceous. 

They may be made with gelatine, moss, or isin- 
glass, —of the first sort ; or with arrowroot, corn- 
starch, or farina, —of the second. They may also 
be made with tapioca or sago, just as those water 
jellies are made. 

Blanc-manges. may be flavored —and christened 
accordingly —in various ways. Vanilla, rose, al- 
mond, orange, or lemon, — or wine and spice, — are 
used. As the milk preparation is first put together, 
and must be allowed to cool partially before adding 


ss 





JUST HOW. 245 


wine or an essence, you can always be guided by 
your taste in doing this. 

Ordinarily, a brimming teaspoonful of any essence 
—three tablespoonfuls of rose-water, or a gill of 
wine and a round saltspoonful of spice — will bea 
safe measure for a quart of milk. 

The grated rind of two lemons or oranges may be 
boiled with a quart of milk for blanctmange ; the 
milk being afterwards strained. The same may be 
done with the saltspoonful of spice, when this. is 
used, the wine being added at the last, when. cool, 

Put an even teaspoonful of salt into the milk 
preparation for a quart of blanc-mange. 

-Chocolate blanc-mange is made by the addition of 
grated chocolate to the milk preparation, as soon as 
the gelatine or starch thickening has been added to 
it. A gill toa quart of blanc-mange; well stirred 
over the fire. 

Of gelatine, half a box, zx cold weather or made 
twenty-four hours previous and set om ice, will make 
a small quart of fresh, rich milk into blanc-mange. 
For an, o/d-measure quart, especially in warm weather, 
or without ice, or made the day of using, you ‘must 
take two thirds of a box. 

Of sea-moss, one even tablespoonful will make a 
quart of blanc-mange. 

Of corn-starch or arrowroot, three tablespoonfuls 
will make a quart. 

Of farina, one gill will make a quart. 

Of sago or tapioca, a cupful will make a quart. 


246 ¥UST HOW. 


SIMPLE BLANC-MANGE WITH MOSS. 


Set a quart of milk, the richer the better, to boil 
in a double boiler. 

Measure a full, not heaping, tablespoonful of oss 
farina (the best form of the sea-moss for cooking), 
and shake it very lightly and gradually into the milk 
before it heats to the scald; keep stirring until the 
moss is quite dissolved, and the milk is boiling hot. 

It is not necessary that the milk should actively 
boil ; but it must be at the boiling point, and should 
stand, like moss jelly, after the moss is dissolved 
and there is no longer any need of stirring, a good 
while in a place where it will keep almost at the 
simmering point. You may attend to other things 
and leave it for an hour. This continued scalding 
makes the blanc-mange finer and whiter. 

Stir occasionally, however, to keep the skim from 
forming. 

Put a scant teaspoonful of salt into a quart of 
blanc-mange. 

Cool and flavor. See introductory instructions, 
just previous. 
WITH GELATINE, 

Soak two thirds of a package in a cupful of the 
quart of milk, until swollen and softened to a jelly. 
Half an hour will do. 

Put the milk on to boil as before. When at the 
boil, stir in the gelatine. It will dissolve almost in- 
stantly ; but you must stir until you are certain that 





YUST HOW. 247 


it has done so. The blanc-mange is now made, ex- 
cept for the addition of salt and flavoring. Let it 
cool before you make this. 


WITH CORN-STARCH OR ARROWROOT. 


Take out a cupful of your quart of milk to wet 
the starch or arrowroot. Put three round _table- 
spoonfuls of either of these into a small bowl, and 
wet very gradually to perfect smoothness. Do this 
while the milk is coming to a boil. As it does 
so, pour the thickening gently in, stirring steadily 
throughout. 

Let it continue to boil, still stirring, five minutes, 
to cook the starch. Cool and flavor. , 


WITH TAPIOCA OR SAGO. 


Soak half a pint of either in as much cold water, 
first washing and rinsing well. Soak tapioca over 
night, keeping it covered. Soak sago an hour or 
two, Oo" 

The tapioca will swell, and take up all the water ; 
the sago, beside being soaked less time, will not 
swell so much. Allow, therefore, three half-pints of 
milk — which should be as creamy as possible — to 
make the quart with the measure of water already 
absorbed, in using tapioca; with sago, turn off any 
water that is not taken up, and allow that much over 
the three half-pints of milk. 

You may use milk instead of water to soak with, 
only in that case do not soak tapioca over night. 


248 YUST HOW. 


Three.or four hours will do, with a good, boil after- 
ward in the whole quantity of milk. 

Put the milk on to boil, and when at the boiling 
point, stir in the tapioca or sago. Boil fifteen or 
twenty minutes, stirring almost constantly. 

Take off, and stir until partially cooled, Salt and 
flavor. 


Remember that all blanc-manges must be.cooled 
before essences or wine are added. 

Put cold water into blane-mange moulds, and let 
them stand while the blanc-mange is making. Pour 
all out just before you put in the blanc-mange, which 
you do as soon as the seasoning is in. Set away in 
a cold place. 

WITH FARINA. 

Use a gill of farina to a quart of milk. 

Set the milk on in a double boiler, shake in the 
farina as you do sea-moss, while it is heating, and 
finish like “Sago,” or “ Tapioca Blanc-Mange.”’ 


CREAMS, 


The addition of egg aud sugar to, simple blanc- 
mange brings it into the class of simple creams; 
‘The milk, also, is used as rich as can be commanded. 
I should rather, perhaps, say that it should be as 
good cream as can be commanded; although very 
nice preparations can be made of good milk. 

“Spanish,” ‘Italian,’ and other fancy named 
creams, are but variations of this. class, 





JUST HOW. 249 


The yolks of four eggs, beaten very light, —a cup 
of sugar, —with half a box— or more, as explained 
in case of “ Gelatine Blanc-Mange”’— of gelatine to 
a quart of milk, make the usual proportion. 

Sceald the milk,—soak and dissolve. the gelatine, 
—as already directed for “ Blanc-Mange.”’ When 
this is accomplished, take the milk off the fire, stir in 
the sugar and the usual even teaspoonful of salt, and 
then pour slowly to the beaten yolks, stirring all the 
time. Return to the double boiler, and stir over 
the fire until the water in the outer kettle boils 
again; this kettle not having been removed from 
the fire at all. 

Cool enough to add the flavoring, and pour into 
the moulds. 

Use two teaspoonfuls of vanilla, or other extract, 
for a cream made with a quart of milk, as the added 
materials increase the final quantity, and also have a 
flavor of their own to be modified. 


WHIPPED CREAMS. 


“Charlotte Russe,” “ Bavarian Cream,’ “ Choco- 
late Cream,” etc., are made in a similar way, with 
the addition of the whites of the eggs, and with the 
difference of a thorough whipping, first to the mix- 
ture of hot cream, gelatine, and yolks of. eggs, pre- 
pared as in foregoing directions, and then to the 
whole after the addition of the whites of eggs, these 
last having been beaten separately to a stiff froth. 

Cream. is indispensable to these dishes. 


250 GUST HOW. 


“Velvet Cream,” “Flummery,” and snow for “Snow 
Custard,” are made by a similar process otherwise, 
but with the whites of eggs only. 


The following measures suppose the large quart, or 
the half-pint cupfuls. 


CHARLOTTE RUSSE. 


Soak two thirds of a box of gelatine in a cup of 
good milk. 

Put three cups of good cream to scald in an inner 
boiler. 

Beat the yolks of six eggs to a thick foam. 

Stir and dissolve the gelatine in the cream at the 
boiling point. Add around saltspoonful of salt. 

Beat a heaping cup of sugar to the yolks of eggs, 
letting the cream and gelatine stand meanwhile 
where they will be kept scalding hot. 

Pour the cream gradually to the yolks and sugar, 
beating all the time. 

Continue to beat till all is quite light, and cold. 
Then give it into a second hand to keep beating, 
while you beat the whites of eggs to a stiff froth. 

Add the whites of eggs, and beat all together to a 
fine froth. . 

Flavor with two teaspoonfuls of any extract, and 
turn into moulds lined with slices of sponge-cake. 
Do not use stale cake; that is only fit to be made 
into puddings in which it will be recooked. Provide 
cake nice and fresh enough for the tea-table. 








GUST HOW. 251 


BAVARIAN CREAM. 


Two thirds of a box of gelatine, soaked in a cup- 
ful of good milk. 

Three half-pints of nice cream, scalded in a double 
boiler. 

Stir and dissolve the gelatine with the cream, at 
boiling point. Add a large saltspoonful of salt. 
Keep hot. 

Beat the yolks of four eggs to thick foam. 

Add a cup of sugar, and beat well. 

Pour the hot cream and gelatine very slowly to 
the yolks and sugar, whipping steadily, and continue 
to whip until very light, and quite cold. Then hand 
over to an assistant who will keep on whipping until 
you have beaten the whites of eggs to perfect stiff- 
ness. 

Add the whites to the rest, and whip all till frothy 
throughout. Flavor, and turn into moulds that have 
been wet with cold water. | 

A cream which I used to know as “Italian” is 
made like this, omitting the whites of eggs, but beat- 
ing the rest of the composition a great while, till 
of the same spongy froth which characterizes all 
whipped creams. 


CHOCOLATE CREAM. 

Made precisely like the last, with the addition of 
four tablespoonfuls of grated vanilla chocolate to the 
gelatinized cream, and the using of a teaspoonful of 
vanilla instead of two, in the flavoring. 


252 UST HOW. 


Plain chocolate may be used, with two teaspoon- 
fuls and a few drops over, of vanilla, in flavoring. 


VELVET CREAM. 


Two thirds of a box of gelatine, soaked in milk, 
and prepared with three half-pints of scalded cream, 
as directed in each of the preceding “ Cream” ‘rec- 
ipes. 

Half a cup of sugar, stirred into the cream over 
the fire, after the gelatine is dissolved. 

Take from the fire, and beat very light, adding, as 
the cream cools, a teaspoonful of flavoring extract, 
or three tablespoonfuls of rose-water, dropped in very 
gradually during the beating. 

Beat the whites of ‘three eggs very light, and then 
beat in with the cream till of an even froth. Turn 
into wet moulds. 

— SNOW. 

Soak one fourth of a box of gelatine in half a cup 
of cold water. 

Grate the rind and strain the juice of a lemon. 
Mix with these two thirds of a cup of sugar, mash- 
ing the rind first into the dry sugar to extract the 
flavor. 

When the gelatine is thoroughly soaked, turn 
upon it one cupful of boiling water, and stir in the 
lemon and sugar. Set aside to grow perfectly cold. 

Beat the whites of four eggs to a perfectly stiff 
froth; then strain the gelatine, and add it, little by 
little, beating as you do so, to the eggs. Whip the 
whole till it is a perfect foam. 








POST HOW. 253 


It will take from twenty minutes to half an hour. 
The cook-books tells us‘an ‘hour ; but with fresh eggs 
and good gelatine, it need not. 

Turn into a mould that has been wet with cold 
water, and set away. | 

Set ona pint of rich milk to boil, in a double boiler. 

Beat the yolks of the four eggs to a thick froth. 

When the milk boils, take it off, and stir into it 
two thirds of a cup of sugar, and a pinch of salt. 
Leave the outer boiler on the fire. 

Turn the milk slowly to the yolks, beating well. 

Return the custard to the inner boiler, and stir 
over the fire till it thickens. See “Custard.” 

When the mould of “Snow” ‘is quite stiff, turn it 
out upon a glass dish, and pour the custard around 
” FLUMMERY. 

Soak half a box of gelatine in half a cup of cold 
water. 

Scald two cups of thick cream in‘a double boiler. 

Stir the soaked gelatine into the hot cream. 
When fully dissolved, take from the fire, and pour 
into a bowl to grow cold. 

Beat the whites of four eggs to a stiff froth. 

Beat to the eggs one cup of sugar. 

Put half a cup of white wine into ‘the cream, or 
flavor in any other way that you prefer. Grated 
lemon or orange rind, scalded in the cream, which is 
afterwards strained, and a little of the juice added 
when cold, answers very well. 


254 ¥UST HOW. 


When the cream is perfectly cold, turn it gradually 
to the whip of egg and sugar, and continue to whip 
all till it becomes a pure foam throughout. 

Fill glasses with it, to eat as a whip before it 
hardens ; or put it into a mould wet with cold water, 
to stiffen as a cream. It may be piled upon a cus- 
tard, or other light preparation, as a meringue. In 
this way, as for whip, it must be used before it stif- 
fens. 

SIMPLE WHIPPED CREAM. 

Put a wineglass of wine, and sugar enough to make 
quite sweet, into a pint of cream. Set it on the ice 
to become as cold as possible. 

Whip it with a whip-syringe or churn, till it is per- 
fectly frothy. 

You may use lemon or orange, as directed in pre- 
vious recipe, if you prefer it to the wine. 


RENNET CUSTARD, OR CURDS AND WHEY. 


Set a quart of milk — in the dish intended for 
the table— where it will become slightly warm. 
In warm weather, unless it is taken directly from 
ice, no increase of temperature is needed. 

Mix a tablespoonful of “Liquid Rennet,” such as 
comes prepared in bottles, with a glass of wine; or, 
omitting the wine, put an extra half-teaspoonful of 
rennet with three tablespoonfuls of rose-water. Stir 
together well. 

Then stir all into the milk; drawing the spoon 
through gently from side to side, and down to the 





: 
| 





YOST HOW. 255 


bottom of the dish, for halfa minute or more. The 
success of the custard depends on this complete, but 
gentle, stirring. 

Leave it standing for half an hour, or more, when. 
it will be ready to serve. Eat with sugar and 
cream. | 

WINE WHEY. 

Scald a pint of milk ina small porcelain sauce- 
pan. ) 
Stir in six tablespoonfuls of good wine,— pale 
sherry or Madeira. 

Let it just come to a boil, and set off Strain and 
squeeze through a muslin. Sweeten a little. 


0 


SECTION III. 
RECIPES. 
PART XI. 


SYRUPS, CORDIALS, FRUIT-JELLIES, SHRUBS, WINES, PRE- 
SERVES, JAMS, MARMALADES. 

I include all the above preparations in one divis- 
ion; and J enumerate them in their natural order. 
Each is but a step on from the one before; and to 
know how to make the simpler, initial combinations 
is to get the right idea of processes, and the reasons 
why, in making all the rest. There is no need of a 
long chapter of special prescriptions for this, that, 
and the other, sweetmeat; or of mystifying with 
separate departments for syrups and jellies, — jams 


256 GUST HOW. 


and marmalades, — or fruits zz syrups, zo¢ jammed, 

s “preserves.” One plan and principle run through 
the whole. To discern this in any department of 
cookery is to get the “open sesame.” 


SIMPLE SYRUP. 


To a pound of sugar put half a pint of water. 
Let it stand awhile, to partially dissolve. Assist this 
by stirring. 

For three pounds of sugar, take the white of one 
egg, beat it, and stir it in. 

Set it on the fire in a nice preserving kettle. 
When it boils up, put in about a wineglass full of 
cold water, and let it boil up again. Then set it 
back where it will not boil, and let it stand till the 
scum is all gathered at the top. Take this all off, 
and then boil the syrup till it zs syrup. You can 


judge by cooling in a spoon, then pouring and tast- — 


ing, bearing in mind the quality of nice preserve- 
syrup which you wish it to resemble. 


COLD SYRUP, OR ‘“‘ EAU SUCREE.” 


To one measure of water put one of sugar. Stir 


until perfectly clear. This—thinned with fresh water 
to suit the taste—is a pleasant, refreshing, and 
strengthening drink ; and a good resource in travel- 
ing, or when one cannot get other refreshment. It 
is also excelkent for a cough, used at the first thick- 
ness, by the teaspoonful. 

A few drops of essence of wintergreen give it an 
agreeable flavor for the latter purpose. 








FUST HOW. 257 


To mix simple “ Hau Sucrée” for immediate sip- 
ping, take one measure of sugar to two of water. 


CORDIAL, 


This is a syrup of fruit-juice, spiced and brandied. 

Put any juicy fruit — blackberries, for example — 
over the fire in a preserving kettle, mash them down 
with a wooden spoon, as they heat, till all the juice 
is boiled out. Strain, and measure. 

For each quart, put in two teaspoonfuls, rounded, 
of clove, mace, and allspice, each, and four of cinna- 
mon. 

Boil like simple syrup, skimming carefully. When 
clear and syrupy, take off and cool. J 

When cold, add a pint of brandy to every.quart 
of your first measure of the juice. 

Strain through a close muslin, and bottle. Cork 
tightly. 

SHRUB. 

This is a syrup of fruit-juice and vinegar. 

Boil juice from fruit as above. Strain and meas- 
ure. 

To a pint of juice add half a pint of strong cider- 
vinegar, and a half-pint and a gill of sugar. This is 
for sweet fruit. Currants would require a pint of 
sugar. 

Stir in the beaten white of an egg for every three 
of the above measures. 

Set on to boil; set off and skim, as simple syrup. 
Boil again ten minutes, strain, and bottle. 

17 


258 GUST HOW. 


WINE. 


Wine is a cold syrup, fermented. ) 

Of berry-fruits— grapes, blackberries, currants, 
gooseberries — obtain all the juice by mashing the 
fruit, and squeezing and straining through a strong 
cloth. 

Put a little at a time into a deep bowl or pan, and 
press with a wooden spade or pestle, or with your 
hand. Then put juice and all into your strainer- 
cloth, and squeeze and wring it till the pulp is left as 
dry as you can make it. This is done, of course, 
over the jar, or other receptacle for the juice. Have 
a pan beside you in which to put the pulp. 

Proceed in this way until you have squeezed all 
your fruit. 

This method applies to the making in moderate 
quantity. In making a great deal of fruit — espe- 
cially grapes —into wine, you would have to mash 
it in a tub, taking more at a time. Then dip out and 
strain the juice, and squeeze and strain the pulp. 

For one measure of juice, take one of water, and 
three fourths, round measure, of sugar. 

Use the water,tepid; at a temperature of about 
60 degrees. 

Put the water to the squeezed pulp, and stir and 
wash it, to get all the remainder possible of juice or 
flavor. Then strain, and stir with the juice. Add 
the sugar, stirring till it is all dissolved, as you do 
with “ Eau Sucrée.” 











UST HOW. : 259 


& 


Put into a keg with the bung open, or into a jar 
with the cover not quite closed over it. A jar is 
best for any ordinary quantity, as you can so easily 
remove the scum which rises during the process of 
fermentation. Do this every day. 

When fermentation is wholly over, which will not 
-be for several weeks, dip off, carefully avoiding stir- 
ring, and bottle. 

You can tell when the action of fermentation 
ceases by its no longer bubbling or foaming up, but 
becoming perfectly still. There is no harm, but 
rather benefit, in leaving it still awhile, before bot- 
tling. It should, however, be bottled soon, unless 
made in, or drawn off into, a cask, or demijohn, in 
which it can be tightly plugged or corked. 

If you make it in a keg or demijohn, reserve a 
part of the raw syrup, and still have the keg almost 
full. Let the fermentation work the scum up and 
over, and fill up from day to day with the reserve. 
This allows the wine to clear itself, in place of the 
daily skimming which you would do in making it in 
a jar. 

It may be keptin a cask or demijohn, after it is 
fermented and corked, for several months before 
bottling. 

WILD CHERRY CORDIAL, 

Put as many cherries —the -small, black, wild 
ones —as you wish to use, into a wide-mouthed bot- 
tle or jar, not quite filling it. Pour in enough good 
brandy to come up level with the fruit. Turn this 


260 SUST HOW. 


* 


out again, and measure it. To a quart of brandy 
put a pint of sugar, and stir until dissolved. Then 
pour all into the jar with the cherries, and cork up. 
Shake well, and repeat the shaking at frequent in- 
tervals for several weeks. 


JELLIES, 


From berry fruits — which include currants and 
grapes — obtain the juice by mashing down over the 
fire, and straining, as in recipe for cordial. 

For every pint of juice, measure a pint of sugar. 
Put it in a pan in an open oven, or close to the fire 
where it will grow very hot; too hot to handle. 

Boil the fruit-juice twenty-five minutes. Then 
stir in the hot sugar and boil five minutes. 

Begin to try the jelly, with a few drops in a spoon, 
as soon as it boils up after the sugar is dissolved. 
By taking it to a window, or cool place, and pouring 
it from side to side in the spoon, you can see if it 
jellies upon it in becoming cold. Keep on with one 
trial after another in this way, till it does. If the 
sugar was “ piping” hot, five minutes should suffice ; 
but I always test it. 

From apples, peaches, etc., obtain the juice by cut- 
ing up the fruit small, after it is peeled and cored, 
packing it in a preserving kettle, and pouring to it 
enough cold water to almost cover. Then boil, stir, 
and mash, as with small fruit. Or, cut up and boil 
and mash zz their own juice only, ina YAU MOTE, 
or double boiler. 











YUST HOW. 261 


Strain. off the juice; measure a pint of sugar to 
a pint of juice; heat the sugar; put the juice on 
to boil. Boil twenty-five minutes ; sti in the sugar; 
boil, and try, as above. 

With apple-juice you may boil the thinly pared 
rind and the strained juice of one lemon, to a pint 
and a half of juice. ; 

Crab-apples and guinces should be cut up, cores 
and all, for boiling. Use water to cover. 

Scald peaches to take off the skins. 

The pulp of fruit, from which juice has been 
strained for jelly, can be sweetened for common 
sauce, or boiled down with sugar for marmalade. 


PRESERVES. 


Preserves are fruits boiled whole, or in unbroken 
portions, in a syrup. 

Allow a pint of sugar to a pound of fruit ; weigh- 
ing the latter after it is prepared, as follows :— 

Peel pears and apples, and core the latter. Or, 
rather, cove and then peel them; as the skin will 
keep them from breaking by the thrusting through 
of the corer. 

Scald peaches, and take off the skins. 

Cut off the ends of pine-apples, slice them from 
the core, lengthwise, and chop them. 

Prick the skins of cherries, crab-apples, and plums, 
all over, with a large needle. Remove, or retain the 
stems of the two first named, as you fancy. 

Peel, quarter, and core quinces. Simmer the 


262 } GUST HOW. 


cores and skins for two hours, in water engage to 
cover the quzuces. 


Apples, pears, and crab-apples, prepared as above, 
are put in the preserving kettle, with boiling water, 
not quite even with them,— covered close, — and 
boiled till tender. 

Then take out the fruit, and lay it upon large flat 
dishes to cool. 

Make a syrup of the sugar, with the water used in 
boiling the fruit. Boil and skim till clear, and of 
the “simple syrup ” thickness. 

Put in the fruit, a little at a time, and boil it till 
‘clear, but do not break. 

Take it out with a skimmer, —cool again on the 
dishes, — and meanwhile boil the syrup until almost 
jelly. 

Put the fruit in jars, and pour the syrup hot over 
it. 


Peaches, or pine-apples, are to be laid, when pre- 
pared as above, in broad, deep pans, with the meas- 
ure of sugar in layers above and beneath the fruit. 
Be sure and. cover the surface with sugar. Let 
stand several hours, or from night till morning. 

Drain the syrup from the fruit, and put it on to 
boil. Clarify with white of egg, as directed in 
recipe for “ Syrup.” 

When the syrup is skimmed clear, put in the fruit, 
—apart at a time if you have a great deal, —and 








YUST HOW. 263 


boil till clear and tender. Take out with a skim- 
mer, and lay upon open dishes to cool. 

Boil the syrup, and skim it, until it is almost at 
the jellying point. Try it as you do jelly. When it 
runs very thick upon the spoon, and all but jellies, 
take it off. 

- Put your fruit into jars, and pour the hot syrup 
over it. Cover with brandied paper, fitted and 
pressed to the surface of the fruit, and close the 
jars tightly. 


Put cherries or plums in layers, with the sugar 
strewed between, in deep earthen or stone baking- 
pans, or “crocks.” Set in an afternoon — that is, a 
gradually cooling — oven, with an inverted plate 
beneath, and a close cover upon the top of the bak- 
ing-pan. Keep in a moderate heat for as many 
hours as you can, and not cook them more than to 
make them thoroughly tender, and draw the syrup. 
In the old-fashioned brick ovens, they used to be 
left in overnight after a “ baking.” 

Next day, drain the juice off, set it over the fire 
in the kettle, and boil it down to syrup, clarifying in 
the usual way. The length of time will depend 
upon the juiciness of the fruit and the consequent 
thinning of the sugar. 

Put in jars, pour the syrup over, and close, as 
peaches. 

To preserve derries, make a “simple syrup,’ — see 
recipe, — using a pint of sugar for each pound of 
fruit. 


264 JUST HOW. | : 


When boiled and clarified, put in a few berries at 
a time, —as many as will float on the syrup, —and 
boil till cooked through. Take out with skimmer, 
and cool on large, open dishes. 

After all are done, boil down the syrup until thick, 
skimming it clear. 

Put the berries into small jars, or tumblers, very 
carefully ; pour the hot syrup over them. Put bran- 
died paper next the fruit, and paste paper covers 
over the jars. 


Quinces. Boil them, prepared as directed, in the 
water the cores and skins were boiled in, adding 
enough just to cover, if this has boiled away. Doa 
part at a time, if you have many, and keep covered. 

When they are tender enough to run a broom- 
straw through, take them out on flat dishes, laying 
the pieces separate, to cool. 

Make syrup of the juice, with a pint of sugar to 
the pint; boil the quinces again in it, twenty minutes; 
then cool again. Boil the syrup almost jelly-thick, 
and pour over the fruit in jars. Close as usual. 


Cut melon rind —that which is left of fair, ripe, 
but not soft, water, musk, or citron-melons, from 
the eating —in strips. Pare off the outer skin. 
Soak overnight in water enough to cover; in which 
two teaspoonfuls of powdered alum to a quart of 
water have been dissolved. 

In the morning, set the melon rind in ‘ys alum- 





Se Mic 





GUST HOW. 265 


water on the fire, and let it come to a scald, not 
boil. It may remain so for several hours. 

Turn away the alum-water, and pour fresh boiling 
water on the rind, to take out the alum flavor. 
When rinsed with this, lay it into a pan of very cold 
water, and let it grow perfectly cold in it. Then 
drain and wipe it perfectly. 

Now weigh it, and measure a scant pint of sugar 
to the pound. 

Make a “Simple Syrup,” using half a pint of 
water to a pint of sugar. Boil first in this water, 
until tender, the thinly pared yellow rind of* one 
_large lemon, or orange, for every pound of the 
melon. You may add one extra lemon for four 
or five pounds. Then put in the sugar, and boil 
and clarify the syrup. When this is made, add the 
lemon or orange-juice. 

If you like ginger, put in a small atti of candied 
ginger for every pound of melon. 

Put in the melon rind, and boil till it looks clear. 
Take out into dishes to,cool. Boil and skim the 
syrup till thick and rich. Put the fruit in jars, and 
pour syrup over. 


Preserves which are to be eaten very soon may 
be made with three quarters of a pound, or three 
gills, of sugar to the pound, for zar¢ fruit, and half a 
pound, or — a pint, to the pound for that which is 
mild. 

Coddled apples are done in this way : Cored, peeled, 


266 -gUST HOW. 


and set on to boil, with shavings of lemon peel, — 
one lemon to half a dozen apples,—in water not 
quite even with them; sugar in the proportion 
above-named being added, — with the lemon-juice 
also, — and boiled with them till they are done. 
Keep them from breaking, and only boil till tender 
and clear. | 

The syrup may be boiled down to a greater thick- 
ness, if desired, after the apples are taken out. 
Lay them in the dish for serving, arrange the rib- 
bons of lemon rind among them, and pour over the 
syrup. 

JAMS. 

Jams, of all berry fruits, are made by scalding 
and mashing the fruit as for jelly, then adding a 
pint of sugar for a pound of fruit, and boiling until 
the whole becomes thick and smooth. 

You may boil the fruit in its own juice, when 
plentiful, for fifteen minutes before adding the 
sugar. Fifteen to twenty minutes more will then 
be enough. 

Stir constantly. 

For apple, pear, peach, etc., pare and cut the fruit 
small. Apples, and the hard kinds of pears, may be 
chopped. 

Measure a pint of sugar for each pound of fruit 
and heat it. . 

Put the fruit on to boil with a half-pint of water 
for each pound. 

Boil till tender and clear. Then add the sugar, 





GUST HOW. 267 


and boil up. Stir and boil, till all is of the jam con- 
sistency. 

Put in with apple, the juice and shaved rind of 
one large lemon to a pound. 


The same rule in regard to quantity of sugar, for 
jam that is to be used directly, will apply, as given 
for preserves. 

MARMALADE. 

Cut up the fruit and boil it in water to cover, 
stirring and mashing. 

Boil soft fruits —as apples, pears peaches — 
half an hour ; the jelly rule. 

Quinces must be boiled an hour; using water in 
which the skins and cores have been already boiled, 
as in preserving quinces. 

Rub the pulp through a sifter, and weigh. 

- Allow for tart fruit a pint of sugar to the pound. 
For mild fruit, half a pint and a gill. 

Stir sugar and pulp together, and set on to boil 
slowly, stirring constantly, till it is very thick and 
jelly-like. When it seems so, try it by cooling. It 
should cool firm, and cut smooth. 


ORANGE MARMALADE. 


Grate off the yellow of the rind. Cut the oranges 
in quarters, and shave the pulp from the white peel 
of each piece with a small, sharp knife. Take out 
the seeds, and the bits of white membrane about 
the core. Do all this over a bowl or dish, to catch 


268 YUST HOW. 


the juice ; and put the pulp into a sieve over a bowl 
or pan, to drain. 

Scrape the pulp which may be left upon the — 
so as to secure all the juice from it. 

Put all the j juice together, and takea pint of sugar 
for a pint of juice. Boil them up together, and 
skim; then put in the pulp and grated rind, and 
finish as other marmalade. 

Cook half an hour before you try. Orange mar- 
malade need not be szzff, to cut; but must be thick 
and jelly like. 

Put in tumblers or jars, covered with brandied 
paper. ‘ 


SIMPLE FRUIT SAUCES. 


Pare and cut up your fruit, or take small fruits 
from the stems, and put into a porcelain kettle with 
a very little water, say a teacupful to a three-quart 
kettleful, for the small juicy fruit, and for the large 
and less juicy, enough to come half way up to the 
level of the fruit. Cover close, and boil till tender. 
Then put in sugar enough to make pleasantly sweet, 
stir, and boil with the cover off, till broken clear, 
and reduced to a consistency and richness mae 
ing that of a preserve. 

This can all be done in ake time, if the quantity 
of water be not too great in the beginning. You 
can put on fruit for a simple sauce, at five o'clock, 
to have cool for tea at six. 











GUST HOW. . 269 


STEWED PRUNES. 


_ Use mice ones. The ordinary “cooking prunes” 
‘are apt to be very dirty and worthless. 

Put them into a small porcelain kettle, with boil- 
ing water to cover them. Boil, covered closely, from 
five to ten minutes, or simply till swollen and ten- 
der. Then turn off almost all the water, leaving just 
enough for a proper proportion of syrup to dish with 
the prunes, and sprinkle in a little sugar. Two ta- 
blespoonfuls, heaping, if you wish the sauce quite 
sweet, — will do for a quart of prunes and syrup. 
Boil a few minutes longer, but do not let the prunes 
break. 3 

BAKED APPLES, 

Core sour apples, put them in a tin pan, and fill 
up the holes with brown sugar. Pour warm water 
around them to the depth of a quarter of an inch 
in the pan. Bake slowly; watching, and turning 
the pan, so as to bake evenly, without any scorch- 
ing. 

_ Put sweet apples into a pan, without sugar or 
water. Bake slowly; watching carefully. 

Apples in baking require ¢endance; they will not 


bake themselves ; they will burn one side, and re- . 


main hard upon the other. A nicely baked apple 
should be of the evenness of that roasted before the 
fire on a twirling string. 


270 . UST HOW. 


DRIED APPLE SAUCE. 


Soak until tender, in plenty of cold water to 
cover, and allow for swelling. The old-fashioned 
dried apple requires soaking overnight, or for sev- 
eral hours. The delicate slzced dried apple, sold as 
“evaporated apple,” requires only about fifteen min- 
utes, in just water enough to cover. 

The strung dried apple needs careful washing be- 
fore soaking ; the sliced apple is perfectly clean. 

Boil in the water it was soaked in. Cook stead- 
ily and slowly, stirring often. Break up the dried 
rind of an orange for every quart of apple, and boil 
with it. Keep closely covered. When soft, like jam, 
take off and rub through a vegetable strainer. Set 
away to grow cold. 

This is very good in the spring, when preserves 
are tiresome and fresh fruits have not arrived. 


SECTION III. 
RECIPES. 
PART XII. — PICKLES. 


Pickles are of two kinds: sour and sweet. 

Sour pickles are prepared by first soaking in 
strong brine; then they are drained, wiped dry, and 
strong vinegar, boiled with spices, is poured over 
them, scalding hot. 

A pint of coarse salt to six quarts of water — 
boiled, and skimmed clear, then turned boiling hot 











YUST HOW. 271 


upon the pickles that are to be — is the recipe for 
the brine. This will answer for half a bushel of 
pickles. 

Melon rind, and often cucumber, or other pickle, 
after soaking in the brine, is scalded 1 in arate water, 
to crisp it. 

The alum-water is prepared with a teaspoonful of 
alum, powdered, to a quart of water. Calculate the 
quantity of water as in making the brine. 

Boil up the water with the alum dissolved in it. 
Put in the pickles, and set the kettle where it will 
keep them at a scalding heat, but by no means boil. 
Let them remain several hours. Half a day will 
not be too long. 

When you take the pickles out, put them into ice- 
cold water, until they are perfectly cold. Then they 
are ready for the vinegar-pickle. 

Grape-vine leaves are sometimes used, for the pur- 
pose of “greening” the pickles. If you adopt this 
plan, dissolve the alum in co/d water, in proportion 
as above, and with the quantity of water calculated 
for your pickles. Prepare this separately; then 
place in your pickling-kettle alternate layers of 
vine-leaves and pickles, packing well. Pour the 
alum-water upon them, and set over a moderate 
heat, where it will slowly come toa scald. Do not 
allow it to boil. Keep it closely covered to hold 
the steam in, and let it remain so for several hours. 
Then take out the pickles, put them directly into ice- 
cold water, and let them remain in it till quite cold. 


272 SUST HOW. 


While they are so left, prepare the vinegar-pickle. 
Use pure, strong, cider-vinegar; mo other. Calcu- 
late in quantity as you do the water for the brine. 


VINEGAR-PICKLE. 
For every quart of vinegar, take the following 
ground spices: Two moderately heaped teaspoon- 
fuls of cinnamon. — Two of clove. —One of mace. 


— One of celery salt, or seeds. — One fair saltspoon- 


ful of black pepper.— As much cayenne pepper as 
will lie easily on the tip of a penknife blade. : 


Mix them all together, dry; then dip enough of 
the vinegar to them to wet them smoothly, and stir 
them to a soft paste. Then lay all in the centre of 
a square of strong, thin muslin, and gather this up 
by the edges and tie it, at a finger’s length from the 


mass of spices, very tightly. Cut off the superflu-_ 


ous corners of the muslin, and put the bag into the 
vinegar, which should be heating to the boil. Add 
two heaping tablespoonfuls of sugar, half an onion, 
chopped, and half a lemon, sliced. 

Let all boil, carefully covered, for a quarter of an 
hour, or more, until strongly flavored. 

Meanwhile, take the pickles from the ice-water, 
and wipe nicely. 

You may place them in the jar where they are to 


remain, and pour the spiced vinegar, boiling hot, 


upon them; or you may put them into the vinegar 
over the fire, and set the kettle back where they will 





| 





GUST HOW. 7 273 


scald, but not boil, for a few minutes ; five, for small 
pickles, from five to ten for larger. 

Put them, with the vinegar, scalding hot, into the 
jars. Put the bag of spices into the middle, among 
them. 


Many other condiments may be used for pickling, 
as ginger, allspice, mustard, curry. The above sim- 
. ple recipe I find very good; any of the additions 
just enumerated may be made at pleasure. 

The following proportions may be used to the 
quantity of vinegar and spices first given: Of made 
mustard, one teaspoonful. — Of allspice and ginger, 
one teaspoonful, either, or each. — Of curry powder, 
one saltspoonful. 

Horse-radish slivered or scraped, and put into the 
jar with the pickles after the boiling, is said to be 
good for keeping the vinegar nice, as well as for 
heightening the flavor. A handful will do-for a gal- 
lon of vinegar. 

Two days after pickling, turn off the vinegar, 
scald it, with the spice-bag in it, and pour it back. 
Do this in two or three days again; once more, a 
week after that. 

If necessary, spice more vinegar and add in the 
reboiling, so as to have always enough to cover the 
pickles. 

Put a plate over them in the jar, when needed, to 


keep them down. 
18 


274 JUST HOW. 


A SECOND METHOD. 


Prepare in brine as above. Omit the alum-scald. 
Lay the pickles in cold water, when you take them 
from the brine. 

Spice the vinegar; wipe the pickles, as you re- 
move them from the cold water ; scald them a few 
minutes in the spiced vinegar, or not, as before ex- 


plained. Put them in the jars, stir into the vinegar - 


a teaspoonful of powdered alum, or a piece as large 
as a hazel-nut, for every two quarts, pour all hot 
over the pickles. 

This is an easy and excellent way. 


CUCUMBERS. 


Take them small, green, hard, and fresh, 

Soak in the brine twenty-four hours at least ; sev- 
eral days, when convenient. 

The remainder of the process has already been 
fully detailed. 

MELON RIND. 

Cut in convenient, handsome strips for the table. 
Pare off the hard, outer rind. Leave two days in 
the brine; then rinse in clear cold water, wipe dry, 
squeezing a little in the cloth, and scald in the alum- 
water three or four hours. Take out into ice-cold 
water, and proceed as with cucumbers. 

Be careful to wipe dry from the ice-water, press- 
ing each piece a little, as before mentioned. 


ee ee 





¥UST HOW. 275 


TOMATOES. 

Take small, round ones. Prick them well with a 
fork or knitting-needle. Put them into a pan or 
jar, in layers, with enough salt between to cover. 
Use the ordinary ground cooking-salt. Let them 
remain three days. 

Drain them ; cover them with equal quantities of 
vinegar and water, and leave them in this overnight. 
Then rinse them out in clear water, and dry them 
with a towel, pressing them gently. 

Omit all use of alum. 

Prepare the vinegar-pickle, leaving out the lemons, 
and adding the mustard. When boiled, set it off to 
grow cold. 

Pack the tomatoes in a jar, scattering in a few 
whole cloves, and some shreds of onion, between 
the layers. Pour the cold vinegar over them to 


cover. 
PEACHES, 


Brush the furry nap off. Boil the brine, and let 
it grow cold before putting the peaches into it. Let 
them lie in it two days. 

Rinse them in clear water from this, dry them 
gently, and stick cloves in them, about three quar- 
ters of an inch apart. 

Prepare the vinegar-pickle, with the cinnamon 
and mace only, for spicing. 

Use no alum. 


276 FUST HOW. 


Boil the vinegar-pickle ten minutes ; then put in 
the peaches, and scald them five minutes. 
Put all hot into the jars. 


CABBAGE. 


Strip off the outside leaves; halve or quarter it. 
Cut out the stump, and slice across the leaves into 
crinkled shreds. Cut or chop these as much finer 
as you like. 

Pack in a large jar, and cover with salt in layers. 
Let stand twenty-four hours. 

Drain ; rinse with equal parts of cold water and 
vinegar. Turn this off through a colander, and 
spread the cabbage on a large folded cloth, with an- 
other over it, to absorb the moisture. 

Prepare the spiced vinegar; put the cabbage in a 
jar, and pour the vinegar over it scalding hot. 


CAULIFLOWER. 


Separate into small clusters. Make the brine, 
using ground salt. Boil and skim. 

Put the cauliflowers into the boiling brine, and 
just szmer them five minutes. Take out carefully 
into a large pan of clear water, very cold. 

Prepare vinegar-pickle with two teaspoonfuls of 
mace — two of celery salt, or seeds — one saltspoon- 
ful of white pepper, and a few grains of cayenne, — 
to the quart. 

Pour over the cauliflower hot. 





: 





FUST HOW. 277 


WALNUTS AND BUTTERNUTS. 


Take them in summer, when just grown. They 
should be tender enough to prick through with a 
large needle. 

Rub off the outside skin. Put them in the usual 
brine, and leave them five days. Begin with them 
on Monday, for instance, and finish them Saturday. 

Drain and wipe them carefully when you take 
them out of the brine. 

Prick each one through two or three times with a 
large needle, and lay them, as you do so, in a large 
pan of cold water. Leave them in this for half a 
day. 

Make the vinegar-pickle, with the addition of the 
allspice. Boil ten minutes. Pack the nuts in jars, 
and pour the pickle over them. 


MANGOES. 


These are small green musk, or citron melons, 
stuffed with spices, and covered in clear boiling 
vinegar. 

Make a brine, as for cucumbers, and pour it boil- 
ing hot upon the melons, while they are whole. 
Let them remain in it two days; then scald in alum- 
water, as you do “Melon Rind Pickle,” and take out 
into ice-cold water. 

When cold, cut out one of the strips of each by 
the natural division, and remove the seeds. Fill 
the rinds with whole spices, in the proportion fol- 
lowing : — 


278  ¥YUST HOW. 


One tablespoonful of cloves, — one of broken cin- 
namon, — one of celery seed, and one of white mus- 
, tard seed, — half a tablespoonful of mace-blades, — 
and a saltspoonful of peppercorns, evenly measured. 

Or, you may mix ground spices by the recipe for 
‘“ Vinegar-Pickle,” moistening to a smooth paste, as 
in ‘ Pickle Salad,’ with equal parts of best salad oil 
and vinegar. Fill the melon shell with as much of 
this paste as you judge would dress the quantity of 
rind as a salad. is 

Replace the cut-out strip; tie together securely, 
and put the mangoes into jars. Boil enough cider- 
vinegar to cover them, and pour over scalding hot. 

N. B. All the above pickles are to be treated as 
cucumbers, in respect to the after scaldings. 


CHOW-CHOW. 


Make ready: Two quarts of hard white cabbage, 
chopped fine. — One quart, each, of fine-chopped 
green tomato and cucumber. — Two heaping table- 
. spoonfuls of chopped onion. — Two heaping table- 
spoonfuls of grated horse-radish. 

Mix all thoroughly together, and put them in lay- 
ers in a pan or jar, with sprinkled layers of ground 
salt between and over the top. Press down com- 
pactly, cover, and leave for two days. 

On the second day after, prepare the vinegar- 
pickle, with the addition of the ginger, allspice, mus- 
tard, and curry. Grate and squeeze the lemon, and 
put in rind, juice, and spices, without a bag. 








FUST HOW. 279 


Drain the chopped vegetables, and squeeze them 
in a strainer-cloth, to get out all the brine. 

Boil the vinegar and spices ten minutes. Then 
put in the vegetables and boil half an hour. 


HANDSOME RED PICKLES. 


Cherries: Take fine red, ripe cherries, with the 
stems on, Fora quart, take a pint of cider-vinegar, 
and a large cupful of white sugar. Boil these to- 
gether ten minutes; skim ; turn off to grow cold. 

Pour cold over the cherries, packed in jars. 
Cover tightly. 


Barberries: Do these like cherries, except that 
you may use a pint of sugar to a pint of vinegar. 


PICKLE SALAD. 


Make it of any nice sour pickle, — cucumber, 
cauliflower, cabbage, or mixed pickle, — and for two 
tablespoonfuls of the spiced vinegar from the jar, 
take: Yolks of two eggs. — Two fair tablespoonfuls 
of butter. — Two teaspoonfuls of made mustard. — 
One teaspoonful of salt, and one of celery salt. — 
One teaspoonful of sugar. — Two tablespoonfuls of 
best salad oil. A saltspoonful of curry may be 
added, especially when this has not been. used in the 
pickling. 


Cream the butter. —Stir the yolks of eggs, not 
beat them, and add to the creamed butter, stirring 


280 ¥UST HOW. 


smooth. — Add the mustard, stirring in like man- 

er; then curry, if used ; then the salt and sugar 
and celery salt ; then stir in the oil, little by little, 
and beat it well. — Last, drop in the vinegar slowly, 
stirring all the time. 

When all is smooth, mix with it, or pour it over, 
as much of the pickle as it will serve to dress. 

Prepare a small quantity at a time, for immediate 

use at table; or a small jar full to keep on hand a 
little while, tightly corked. 


SWEET PICKLES. 


Any fruit of which you can make a preserve — 
and this includes the rinds of ripe melons and cu- 
cumbers — may be made into sweet pickle. 

Any preserve may be made into sweet pickle by 
the boiling over of the syrup with the addition of 
spices and vinegar. This is sometimes a conven- 
ient way of disposing of superfluous sweetmeats 
towards spring. 

The proportion of sugar to vinegar, for a fresh 
pickle syrup, is a pound to a pint. 

For apples, pears, and peaches: Core and pare the 
first, and pare the two last. — Prepare the syrup by 
simply boiling the sugar in the vinegar, and skim- 
ming clear. — Stick whole cloves in the fruit, three 
quarters of an inch apart.— When the syrup is 
ready, put the fruit in, a little ata time, and boil till 
tender, but not breaking. 

Take out with a skimmer, and lay in the jars. 








YUST HOW. 281 


Pour the pickle-syrup over them hot, when all are 
done. | 

Watch, and re-scald the syrup from time to time, 
if threatening fermentation, and turn over the fruit 
again, hot. 


Plums, and other small, smooth-skinned fruits, 
are to be well pricked before cooking. 

The vinegar may be spiced by process directed 
for sour pickle, preparing the bag with a heaped 
teaspoonful each of clove, cinnamon, and mace, and 
a saltspoonful of allspice, to a pint of vinegar. Boil 
ten minutes, closely covered; then add the sugar, 
and finish as in previous recipe. 


Cherries may be spiced or not as preferred. The 
stones give a pleasant flavor, of themselves. 


Melon Rind is prepared for preserving, with the 
alum-scald, etc., then either stick the strips with 
cloves, and pickle as apples, etc., or make the spiced 
vinegar-syrup, as for plums. 

You can vary, or reverse these spicings, with the 
different fruits, if you fancy; or you can do any of 
them with vinegar spiced as for sour pickle, adding 
the necessary amount of sugar, and boiling as above. 


SPICED CURRANTS. 
For every five pounds of currants, take two quarts 
of sugar, and one scant pint of vinegar. 


282 YUST HOW. 


One heaping tablespoonful of ground cinnamon ; 
two round teaspoonfuls of ground clove; one round 
teaspoonful of ground allspice ; one round teaspoon- 
ful of powdered mace. 

Boil the currants with the sugar as for jam. 

When quite thick, add the vinegar and spices, and ~ 
boil, stirring well, from ten to twenty minutes more, 
or, until like jam. 


CIDER APPLE SAUCE, 


Boil new, sweet cider down to one half. 

Core, pare, and quarter sweet apples enough to 
fill up the syrup. | 

Boil all together, slowly, with frequent stirring, 
nearly all day, or until thick and smooth. 

Keep covered as closely as possible, that the liq- 
uid may not waste away too fast. 


SECTION: 


SYNTAX. 


Having given you in the preceding sections the 
parts of speech, my grammar would be very incom- 
plete without an explanation, and a few examples, of 
how to put them together. 

A great many persons have a nice understanding 
of each separate item in a bill of fare, who would be 
grievously perplexed and overwhelmed, if obliged in 
a sudden emergency to carry through the whole 








GUST HOW. 283 


combined operation of preparing them for a single 
‘meal. 

I propose, in this chapter, to get a few family 
breakfasts, dinners, and teas, just as I have followed 
out single recipes ; upon the threefold principle laid 
down at the beginning, of “One to make ready,” 
etc., so that, if anybody’s cook goes away at short 
notice, and she has to get up and prepare breakfast, 
she may have a simple counsel at hand to hint to 
her possible inexperience ‘just how” it may most 
easily, methodically, expeditiously, and unperturb- 
edly be accomplished. The same also, in regard to 
the other daily domestic festivals. that they may not 
turn out fasts or mortifications. 

Remember however, in the use of these combined 
directions, —as in that of their simpler parts, and 
in all your housekeeping, — to “look forward,” that 
you may not be obliged regretfully and perplexedly 
to “look back.” <A great deal of everything, in this 
world, has to be done the day before. 

Think beforehand, and take in the plan of what 
you purpose doing ; that you may be provided with 
all that is needful—that nothing may come wrong 
end foremost—and that it may never be too late for 
any nice, essential point or condition. 


BREAKFAST. — NO. I. 


Hour, eight o’clock. — Fishballs. — Corn-cake. — 
Biscuits. — Coffee. 


284 Ri HOW. 


Read over your recipes the evening “before, and 
make ready : — 

The fish, properly scalded during the day, and now 
picked over, and the nice, white parts shredded up 
fine. — Potatoes washed, peeled, and laid in a pan of 
cold water. — Bread mixed, and left rising. 

If possible, make ready also overnight (otherwise, 
the first thing after the fire burns and the kettle 
is on in the morning, and get up therefore fifteen 
or twenty minutes the earlier): Meal and flour for 
corn-cake, with salt and soda, all mixed together 
in a bowl, and left covered on the movable table. 
— The covered pitcher or bowl of sour milk for 
the same. — The eggs, unbroken, of course. — The 
sugar measured out and covered. — Spoons, bak- 
ing-pans, etc., needed in both preparations and 
bakings. — Coffee-pot, with little bag of coffee in 
it. — Moulding-board, and flour-sifter, with flour in 
it, and a cloth thrown over them. — Chopping-knife 
and tray. — Frying-pan, with lard in it, covered. 

Table laid in breakfast-room. 

Have kindling-wood and coal ready by the stove. 

Be up and in the kitchen at as nearly six o'clock 
as possible. Have your hair covered with a cap or 
handkerchief. 

At half-past six your fire should be burning well, 
your hearth swept up, and preliminary preparations 
made during the kindling which I will mention after 
explaining that. 

To make the fire, shake down all the ashes and 








: 


GUST HOW. 285 


cinders, cleaning the grate completely. Then lay in 
some fwzsted rolls of paper, — then some s/zvers of 
wood, arranged, not thrown, lightly among and above 
them, so lodged that one bit will kindle the next, and 
the air will draw through the whole, — then small 
pieces of dry wood. (A great many are not neces- 
sary, but they must be laid. artistically, neither solid 
nor scattered, but crossed and lodged with a firm 
balance, that the fire may not tumble all apart before 
working up into the whole material.) — Then larger 
pieces, which will make coals. Two or three will 
do, if rightly placed. 

Now close covers and open drafts, and light the 
paper underneath. When the wood fairly burns, 
scatter in some coal, being careful to drop it, in its 
turn, where it will lodge most firmly, and in the an- 
gles where the wood is burning strongest. Cover 


and let this kindle ; then put on, by degrees, all you 


want. 

Always make up a fire from the foundation, as 
evenly along the whole grate as possible, that it may 
burn clear and equally from side to side, and settle 
solidly. Half a stove full, burning in this way, is 
better than coals heaped to the covers and kindling 
only in one spot, perhaps quite at one side. 

Half fill, or less, your teakettle, as soon as you 
have built the fire, and set it where it will boil 
quickest. 

When the fire burns well, shut off the chimney 
drafts, and leave that under the grate open more or 
less as may be needed. 


286 GUST HOW. 


During the kindling of the fire, and the gradual 
supplying of the fuel, wipe your potatoes, one by 
one, and lay them in a saucepan for boiling. 

Set out milk, butter, seasonings, and whatever else 
you may require for cooking. Prepare and set in a 
cool place the cream and butter for the breakfast- 
table. Bring out dishes for serving. 


It will now be half past six o’clock, as I have allowed. 
It is better to give the larger margin at this end of 
your work. 

Take your dough from the bread-bowl, mould it on 
the board, make up your biscuits, put them in the 
pans, cover them with towels, and set them by the 
stove to rise. This will have taken you from fifteen 
to twenty minutes. J/eanwhile, as soon as the ket- 
tle boils, turn the water to the potatoes and set 
them on. Fill up the kettle, and set it on to boil 
again. 

Put the frying-pan on the back of the stove, to 
heat gradually. 

Chop your fish fine. About five minutes for 
this. 

Cream your butter for the corn-cake. Five min- 
utes more, 

Beat the yolks of eggs for the same. A large 
five minutes for this. 

Look to the potatoes, and as soon as they are ten- 
der, turn off the water, sprinkle with salt, shake up, 
and set back to steam a little. — Heat your coffee- 








YUST HOW. 287 


pot and coffee (as by recipe), pour boiling water to 
it, and set it to boil.— Watch your biscuits, and 
turn the pans as they rise.— These intermediate 
cares will have made the difference of about five 
minutes more, 

Put the potatoes into one end of the chopping- 
tray, mash them, and then chop them up with the 
fish, Season and mix, and make up the balls. 

It will now be close upon half past seven. 

Set the frying-pan on in front, to heat in earnest. 

Beat the whites of eggs, for corn-cake. 

Stir the corn-cake quickly tagether, put in the 
pans, and set in the oven. 

Put fishballs in the frying-pan, as many as will lie 
easily together. 

Put biscuits in the oven. Set on milk in sauce- 
pan or inner boiler, to boil for table. 

Tend your fishballs, as elsewhere directed, iad 
look after your oven. The last twenty or twenty- 
five minutes will be busily occupied in this way, and 
in dishing up. Have everything handy, having set 
aside all cooking utensils as done with, and ranged 
your serving dishes, coffee-pot, milk-pitcher, etc., 
forward on your table. 

Fill table coffee-pot with boiling water, and set by 
fire. 

Take the fishballs from the drainer upon their 
dish, and leave this by the fire or overa kettle. If 
you have a hot-closet, of course you use it for all 
such things. 


288 YUST HOW. 


Turn the corn-cakes and biscuits from the pans, 
and put them on their plates. — Pour out the water 
from the table coffee-pot, and fill with coffee. — Pour 
hot milk into the milk-pitcher. 

Carey) all to table as the clock strikes sah 


BREAKFAST. — NO, If. 


Eight o'clock. — Biscuits. — Stewed potatoes. — 
Beefsteak. — Brown bread, steamed over. — Coffee. 


Look over your recipes the hight before, and think — 


over what articles and utensils you will want, and 
set them ready. See that there are cold-boiled po- 
tatoes. 

Mix bread, and set to rise. 

You can cook this breakfast in three quarters 3) 
an hour, after your fire is efficient and oven heating 
well. It could be done in half an hour, but for the 
rising of the biscuits in the pans. 


Make fire, and set on teakettle, hatte this beet 


as there is no haste for the boiling water. 

Put the loaf of brown bread in a plate, into the 
teakettle steamer. Set it on when the water boils. - 

Mould your bread, and make up your biscuits, 
while the fire is burning up. Set them to rise by 
the stove. 

Prepare butter, cream, and all little matters for the 
table, bring out serving dishes, and set breakfast- 
table, if not done the night before. — 


Set on the double boiler, with milk, for the stewed 


al ——- 





SFUST HOW. 289 


potatoes, and cream the butter, with flour and sea- 
soning, for the sauce. 

When the milk boils, finish the sauce, and put in 
the potatoes. Let them come toa boil, and set back 
where they will simmer slowly. 

When the biscuits are risen, put them in the oven, 
and then make coffee by the egg recipe. 

Trim the beefsteak, and have it ready in the 
broiler. 

Set on milk to boil for coffee. 

Cut up butter on the dish for steak, sprinkle with 
pepper and salt, and set by the fire. 

Stir the potatoes now and then; otherwise, keep 
covered. 

Put boiling water in table coffee-pot, and keep 
hot. 

When the biscuits are nearly browned enough to 


take out, dish the potatoes, and keep them hot, and 


broil the steak. Attend to coffee meanwhile, and 
set it back to settle. Keep it as hot as possible 
without boiling, until served. 3 

Open the oven door and leave it so, if the biscuits 
are done before the steak. You can look to this be- 
tween the turnings of the latter. You can also take 
the brown loaf from the steamer, and set it in the 
oven to dry off. 

When the steak is ready, dish it ; put the biscuits 
quickly on their plates; turn the coffee into the pot 
for table, the milk into its pitcher, and carry all in. 
19 


290 JOST HOW. 


BREAKFAST. —NO, ITI. 


Eight o’clock. — Potato soufflée. — Fried hamand — 
eggs. — Graham griddle-cakes. — Toast. — Coffee, 
boiled in a muslin. bag, | 


The evening before, cut the slices of ham that you 
wish to fry, and lay them in cold water. 

Pare potatoes, and lay in cold water. 

Look over recipes, and measure and set out the 
things needed, as far as possible. Or else, be sure 
and rise a full quarter of an hour the earlier, to do 
this, in the morning. 

Kindle fire at half past six. — Half fill teakettle, 
and set on where it will boil quickly. — Wipe pota- 
toes, one by one,and put in saucepan. — Cut bread 
in slices for toast. — Take the ham from the cold 
water, and pour boiling water on it, and set it at 
the back of the stove, to scald without boiling, — 
Fill up the saucepan of potatoes with boiling water, 
and set on where it will boil at once, covered closely. 
— Keep the fire well shaken down, and settled, so 
as to have it clear and solid, for frying. — Beat yolks 
- of eggs for potatoes.— Beat up batter of flour, meal, 
and milk, for griddle-cakes, and measure the soda 
into a cup. — Turn off water from potatoes, as soon 
as they are tender, and set to steam. They should 
be done, ready for mashing, by quarter past seven. 
— Set on the cream to heat for the soufflée, — Mash 
the potatoes. — Beat in the butter, cream, and sea- 








SFUST HOW. 291 


soning, and keep hot. — Beat the whites of eggs. — 
Then beat up the yolks again.a little. — Then mix 
the souffigée, as by recipe, and put in the oven. 
This will be at about half past seven. ” 

Put the coffee-pot on. Heat and shake, fill up 
with boiling water, and set to boil. — Now fry the 
ham, put on a hot dish, cover, and keep hot. — 
Also keep the frying-pan hot. — Set on the griddle 
to heat. | 

Toast and butter the bread, and set in the hot- 
closet, or over a hot water kettle. Afterward, when 
the soufflée is baked, set the toast in the open oven 
a minute or two. 

By this time, the soufflée will be nearly done. 
Watch it, and if it is so, set the frying-pan forward 
again, and fry the eggs. 

Carry the ham and eggs to table. —Then the 
coffee, and the soufflée, and ask the family to break- 
fast. — Bring in the toast. 

Now, dissolve the soda in hot water, and beat with 
the griddle-cake batter; set your griddle forward, 
and proceed to fry the cakes, which must be taken 
immediately from the griddle to the table, in relays. 

Of course, where griddle-cakes are in question, 
there is no question of the cook’s breakfast mean- 
while. That must be a sacrifice. 


BREAKFAST. — NO. IV. 


Hight o’clock.— Biscuits.— Hominy. — Omelette. 
— Coffee, boiled in bag.— Chocolate.— Buckwheats. 


292 FUST HOW. 


Mix bread and buckwheats over night, and lay 
everything ready that you possibly can, for the 
morning. 

Always read over your recipes, and have the 
order of them fresh in your mind. 

An hour and a quarter, which the biscuits require 
for moulding, rising, and baking, will include the 
getting of the rest of the breakfast, after the fire is 
burning thoroughly. 

Mould the biscuits, and set in pans to rise. 

Beat up the buckwheat batter, and set to rise up 
again. 

Wash the hominy and put on in double boiler. 

Scrape the chocolate, and arrange all things for 
making the omelette which could not be done the 
night before, — breaking eggs in separate bowls, 
getting the cream and butter, —and set forth the 
dishes for serving. 

Cream the butter for omelette, and add cream. — 
Beat yolks of eggs. — Put coffee on to boil. —Cut 
up butter in omelette-pan. - 

When the biscuits are risen, put them in the oven. 

Make the chocolate. 

Put on the griddle at the back. 

When the biscuits have been baking five minutes, 
uncover and stir the hominy, salt it, and leave to 
boil down as necessary. 

Finish beating and mixing the omelette, setting 
on the omelette-pan when almost ready, and when 
this is hot, fry the omelette. 








FUST HOW. 293 


Finish the omelette in the oven, as by recipe ; 
meanwhile, scald the table coffee-pot. —Take out 
your biscuits. — Stir butter into hominy, and dish 
up. — Set griddle forward. — Serve up coffee and 
chocolate. — Carry all to table. — Call to breakfast, 
and then bring in the omelette. 

‘Return to kitchen, beat the soda into your buck- 
wheat batter, and fry your —I mean other people’s 


— cakes. | 
DINNER. — NO. I. 


Dinner at two o’clock. — Roast turkey. — Cran- 
berry sauce. — Brown mashed potato. — Sweet po- 
tatoes baked. — Macaroni. — Custard pudding. 


Early in the morning, clean the turkey, and wash 
and peel the potatoes and lay them in cold water. 
You can be doing this last in any intervals of the 
breakfast-vetting. 

The turkey should be attended to the moment 
breakfast is off your hands. If it was frozen, it 
should have been laid in cold water as soon as any- 
body was up to do it. 

The next step toward dinner is to make the 
dressing, stuff the turkey, truss it, and lay it in 
readiness in the pan. For all this refer to direc- 
tions elsewhere. 

If you breakfasted at eight o’clock, we will allow 
that it may now be half past nine. 

Turn boiling water to the cranberries. — Wash 
the sweet potatoes. — Pick over the cranberries, and 


204 JUST HOW. 


put them on to boil. — Set the sugar for the cran- 
berry sauce where it will heat. 

Collect materials for the pudding, and proceed 
with that, attending to the cranberry sauce as it re- 
quires. 

Set the custard on to steam. 

The cranberry sauce will now, probably, be ready 
to come off; at, say a quarter past ten. — Finish 
pudding, and set it away to cool. 

Strain cranberry sauce, if it is to be strained, and 
set that away to cool. 

Now see that your fire is in good condition, and 
your oven likely to be right for roasting. At half 
past ten, it must be solid and clear, but not at all 
exhausted, and receive a moderate replenishment 
of coal at top, which is to last through the cooking ; 
except, if needed, a mere sprinkle that will not 
check the heat. At the same time, put in the tur- 
key, which will thus heat more gradually at first. 
By a quarter to eleven, —if a large one, —it must 
be thoroughly hot, and begin to roast. Follow for- 
mer instructions in tending and basting. 

Between this time and a little before one, there 
will be nothing else to do in regard to dinner, ex- 
cept to see that all your seasoning and conven- 
1ences are at hand upon your movable cooking-table, 
which should be drawn within easy reach of the 
stove, — and to take out and break up the macaroni 
which you mean to prepare. Unless you wish to 
make some pie-crust strips to eat with the custard 


> 


ba 





JUST HOW. 295 


pudding, which you will have plenty of time for, in 
case there is room in the oven, beside the roasting- 
pan, for plates or pans in which to bake them. If 
this is not so, the pie-crust is one of the many 
things which must be-prescribed to be ‘done the 
day before.” 

At ten minutes before one, wash the macaroni, 
and leave it in fresh cold water. Put the potato- 
boiler on, with plenty of water from the teakettle. 
Wipe the potatoes dry, and put them into the boil- 
ing water at one o'clock, or a few minutes earlier. 

Continue to watch and baste turkey, carefully. 

At one o'clock, or from one to a quarter past one, 
— according to size, — put sweet potatoes into the 
oven. 

Set on saucepan, with boiling water for the maca- 
roni. At twenty minutes past one, put in the 


- macaroni. 





Attend to potatoes, and as soon as done, mash 
them, butter and season them, and set them on the 
oven shelf to brown. 

- Cream the butter for the macaroni, and set the 
cream ready to heat. 

Continue to watch and manage the browning o° 
the turkey ; but during this last half hour, avoid 
having the oven open, if possible. Take care of 
the potato, and if it browns too readily, move it to 
the lower part of the oven, or set it at some corner 
of the stove to keep hot, and finish it after the tur- 
key is taken out, and while the gravy is making. 


296 SUST HOW. 

At a quarter before two, mix butter and cream 
together for macaroni, drain off the water from it, 
and pour the dressing upon it. : 

Take up the turkey, and set the roasting-pan on 
the stove, to finish the gravy. Strain this into 
gravy-boat, and keep hot. 

Dish up macaroni and potatoes, and send in din- 
ner. 

DINNER. — NO. II. 

Dinner at two. — Boiled mutton. — Drawn butter 
sauce. — Boiled potatoes. — Cauliflower. — Lemon 
pudding. 


Pare potatoes, and lay them in cold water, Bay 
in the morning. 

At twelve o'clock, prepare everything for making 
the pudding: pound crackers, grate lemons, etc. 

At quarter past twelve, have the pot boiling for 
the mutton.— Prepare and wrap it in the cloth. — 
Put it on —if a piece requiring an hour and a half 
—twenty minutes past twelve. Cover, and bring 
to a boil again as soon as possible. 

Trim the cauliflower, and lay it in cold water. 

At a quarter to one, beat eggs, scald milk, and 
put the pudding together. Bake: if done before 
dinner, keep hot. Have water boiling in saucepan 
tor the cauliflower. 

Put cauliflower in at one o’clock. 

Beat the butter for cauliflower dressing, adding 
the arrowroot and salt. Have the cream ready. 








UST HOW. 207 


Beat butter and thickening: for drawn sauce. 
Have saucepan ready, with boiling water, for pota- 
toes. Use vessels for vegetables that will best ac- 
commodate each other on the stove. 

At a little before half past one, wipe the potatoes. 
Put them in at half past one. 

At a quarter to two, scald cream for cauliflower, 
and stir up and thicken the dressing. 

Pour boiling water to the butter sauce, and stir 
over the fire. Then set the bowl over the teakettle, 
and stir now and then till wanted. 

Steam off the potatoes.— Dish the cauliflower, 
pouring the dressing over it.— Take up and dish 
the mutton; pour a few spoonfuls of drawn sauce 
over it, and scatter a few capers. — Turn sauce into 
tureen, and send in dinner. 

Serve capers in a little pickle-dish, separately. 


DINNER. — NO. III. 


Dinner at two. — Oyster soup. — Beefsteak. — 
Sweetbreads, stewed. — Snow potatoes. — Scalloped 
tomatoes. — Sweet corn. — Summer squash. — Apple 


ple. 


Early in the morning, pare the potatoes and lay 
them in cold water. 

As soon as the kitchen is clear, after breakfast, 
make your apple pie, — or two,—if not made the 
day before. 

Husk the corn. — Wash and wipe the squash, but 


298 FUST HOW. 


do not cut it up. Set all these in a cool place till — 
wanted. | 

Set out all you can think of which you will want 
for each piece of cooking on your table. 

Scallop the tomatoes, ready for baking. 

Take care of your fire, so that at one o'clock it 
shall be even, solid, and clear, and the whole surface 
of the stove available for cooking. 

Beat butter, thickening, and seasoning together, 
for soup. — Have cream ready. — Cream butter, flour, 
and seasoning for sweetbreads. — Put butter, pepper, 
and salt on dish for steak, and steak in broiler. You 
will be in a hurry with several things together at 
last. — Have plenty of boiling well-water in a large 
kettle at the back of the stove, from which to fill 
saucepans, etc., for the different articles. 

Cut up squash, and put in steamer to go over the 
kettle in which you will boil the corn. Have this 
kettle very clean, on the fire, with boiling water. At 
quarter past one set steamer over it, and put toma- 
toes in the oven. — Wipe potatoes, and set on pan 
or kettle for them, with boiling water.— At twenty 
minutes past one, set sweetbreads on in a small 
saucepan, for first boil. 

At half past one set the soup-kettle on, with boil- 
ing water and oyster liquor, as by recipe. A porce- 
lain kettle, holding a little more than three quarts, 
will do, and can be most easily shifted on the stove 
in making room for the other things. — Put potatoes 
and corn to boil, in their respective vessels. — Look 








JUST HOW. 299 


to the tomatoes, and see that they are baking prop- 
erly. 

At thirty-five minutes past one the sweetbreads 
will probably be ready to take out and lay in cold 
water. Keep that in the saucepan hot, 

When the soup-liquor boils, stir in the butter- 
thickening, taste, and add, if necessary, to the sea- 
soning. 

At a quarter before two put back the sweetbreads ; 
when they boil again, stir in the butter-thickening 
prepared for them, and set where they will simmer. 

By ten minutes to two, have the oysters in the 
soup. Boil, as directed in recipe, till the oysters 
curl well. Then stir in cream, boil up, and if need 
be, set back. 

Take up the squash ; turn water from potatoes, 
and set them to steam off. Have the dish heating 
to serve them in. — Dish the soup, and send in. — 
Squeeze the squash, mash it, dish it, and keep hot. 
— Rub the potatoes, or let some one else do it, 
through the colander into their hot dish, and keep 
hot. Meanwhile, do not leave the fire uncovered, but 
shake it down to clear coals for the broiling of the steak, 
and have that on. You can keep it turning, while 
you are also working at the vegetables, your cook- 
ing-table being beside the fire. 

Finish the steak. Dish, and send all in, when the 
soup comes out. 


- 300 | ¥UST HOW. 


DINNER. — NO. IV. 


Dinner at two. — Beef soup. — Boiled salmon.— 
Egg sauce. — Plain potatoes. — Green peas. — Roast 
lamb, — Mint sauce. — Cream potatoes. — Spinach. 

— String beans. — Blanc-mange. 


Make blanc-mange the evening before, or before 
breakfast in the morning, and set on ice. 

The soup, also, is supposed to have been boiled 
the day before. 

Early in the morning, pare potatoes, and lay in 
cold water. | 

Shell peas. — String and break up beans. — Wash 
spinach, and leave in cold water. Have all these 
things ready by twelve o'clock. 

Prepare any vegetables intended for soup. 

Arrange your cooking-table as usual, thinking of 
each dish separately, and the materials and utensils 
needed. 

Make mint sauce. — Cream butter for fish sauce, 
and for spinach dressing. 

Wash, scrape, and tie up the salmon in its cloth. | 
— Prepare lamb, and put it on the pan. 

Have a proper fire and oven at half past twelve, 
and plenty of boiling well-water to fill utensils from, 
and these utensils all ready. 

At ten minutes to one, put spinach on to boil. 

At one, put lamb in the oven, salmon on to boil, 
also string beans and potatoes over them, in a 
steamer. These last are for mashing with cream. 








YUST HOW. 301 


At quarter past one put on soup-stock to boil. When 
it does so, make your additions and seasonings. 

Tend the lamb, basting and browning as elsewhere 
shown. , 

Stir up creamed butter, and put in thickening for 
fish sauce. — Stir up creamed butter, and have cream 
ready, for potatoes, and for spinach dressing. 

At half past one, put in peas to boil, also potatoes 
to steam for plain dish, taking off those for mash- 
ing. — Look after the roast and the soup, tasting the 
latter, and adding seasoning if needed. 

Set cream to heat for mashed potatoes. Mash 
and sift them, stir in butter, salt, and hot cream, 
beat smooth and soft, and set the bowl where it will 
keep hot, stirring now and then. Keep covered. 

Put eggs to boil for fish sauce. 

At quarter before two take up the spinach, — or 
let an assistant do it, while you finish with the po- 
tatoes, — and beat up the egg, butter, and cream for 
the spinach dressing. Let the spinach be chopped 
very fine, so that it can be worked to a smooth 
paste ; stir in the dressing, and set it on the back 
of the fire in a saucepan. 

Set plain potatoes to steam off. 

Turn soup into tureen, and send to table. 

Try the salmon, and take up if done, as it should 
be, and lay on drainer. — Shell and chop the eggs. 

' Turn boiling water to the beaten butter for the 
fish sauce, set it over the fire, and stir up. Then 
set well back, or over kettle. 


302 ¥UST HOW. 


Take salmon from cloth, carefully, as by special 
directions. 

Pour butter sauce on the egg in tureen, stir, and 
send fish and sauce to table. 

Take up, and dish lamb ; boil up gravy, and strain 
into tureen.— Dish the string beans, spinach, and 
creamed potato, and have all ready to send in when 
the fish comes out. - 

Turn out blanc-mange while dinner is going on, 
and have ready, with cream, to send in at its proper 
time. 


These last dinners are not examples for the days 
when your cook has gone away, — Fourth of Julys, 
for instance, —but are rather such as it is well for 
the housekeeper who is training a cook to prepare 
with her, when circumstances allow, in order to ren- 
der her capable of proceeding by herself at times 
when they will not allow. 

Also, some such synoptical idea is very needful 
for the young housekeeper who merely orders her 
dinner, and may have very little notion of how her 
bill of fare can be practically carried out, in respect 
to time, space, and relation. 


TEA. — NO. I. 


Seven o’clock. — Thin bread and butter. — Straw- 
berry short-cake. — Sliced tongue. — Tea. 


The tongue will have been boiled yesterday, and 








FUST HOW. 303 


left in the water it was boiled in until the FOreACON 
of to- day ; then keep in a cool place. 

At six o'clock, have everything ready upon your 
kitchen tables. The materials for the short-cake, — 
the loaf, plate of butter, tea measured into teapot, — 
the tongue, — utensils for mixing and cutting, and 
the dishes for serving. — See that your fire is good. 

Begin at this time to prepare your short-cake. 
Cream the butter, or chop it into the flour, as the case 
may be. At quarter past six will be time enough to 
mix and roll out, and put into the oven. Mean- 
while prepare the fruit. | 

While the cake is baking, cut up the tongue, in 
lengthwise slices, and lay handsomely upon a dish. 
— Spread your bread upon the loaf; then cut, with 
a long, sharp, thin-bladed knife, each slice, as but- 
tered, as thinly and evenly as possible. Cut across 


in halves, or strips, as you like, before putting on 


the plates. Otherwise, in pressing the knife through 
the pile, you press the under side of one slice upon 
the buttered side of the next; and you want each 
to be nice, separate, and comfortable to take in the 
fingers. 

See that the cream, butter, etc., are all provided 
for the table, and send these things in, with the 
tongue, and bread and butter. 

Watch the baking of your cake, as by instructions 
therefor. When done, take out, split and butter, 
as also directed. While doing this, turn the boiling 
water to the tea, and set it to steep gently ; merely 
keeping its temperature, not increasing it. 


304 | 5UST HOW. 


Finish arranging your cake. Scald the teapot for 
the table, and pour in the tea. | 
Send all in. 
TEA. — NO. II. 
Seven o'clock. — Light biscuit. — Buttered toast. 
— Lobster salad. — Crisp crackers.— Tea. — Coffee. 


Make your salad dressing beforehand ; at any 
time in the afternoon. Cover, and keep on ice. 

Have the lobsters-opened, and the meat chopped 
up, between five and six o’clock. Keep this also on 
the ice till wanted. 

_ Have the salad washed and laid in cold water. 

Have the crackers split and buttered. | 

At six o’clock, let all the materials for biscuits, 
toast, and tea and coffee making, be ready together. 
See that the fire is good. Cream the butter for 
your biscuits. 

Cut slices of bread for toast, and keep them laid 
together, loaf-fashion, till you want them. 

Have the salad wiped dry, and cut, or torn, in 
small pieces, and the lobster-meat brought and 
mixed with it. 

At half past six put your buttered crackers into 
the oven. : 

Mix up your biscuits, and put them into the oven 
as soon as ready. Meanwhile have the crackers 
watched, and when crisp taken out. They can be 
set in again if necessary, for two or three minutes 
while the other things are being carried to the 
table. : 








¥UST HOW. 305 


Make your coffee. Put dressing to the salad, and 
pile in bowl. | | 

Set tea to steep at five minutes to seven. Settle 
the coffee. : , 

Have the bread toasted and buttered while the 
biscuits are still in the oven, if you can toast before 
or under the fire. Otherwise, let it be done and 
sent in afterward. 


TEA. — NO. III. 


Seven o'clock. — Dipped toast. — Popovers. — 
Baked apples. — Broiled smoked salmon. — Tea. 


Bake the apples in the afternoon, and set away 
in dish ready for table. 

Lay the salmon to soak beforehand, as by direc- 
tions elsewhere. 

Mix the batter for the popovers at six o’clock. 

At half past six, make the dip for your toast. If 
you can toast the bread under or before the fire, 
proceed to do so, and to dip it. Otherwise, have 
all ready to do it quickly when the popovers are 
baked and the oven door can be opened, leaving. 
them inside. 

At quarter to seven, put on the salmon to broil. 
This also must be completed under or before the 
fire, or after the baking of the popovers is secure. 
There is no difficulty in broiling or toasting under- 
neath, if the fire is clear and clean. 


At five minutes to seven, steep the tea. 
20 


306 JUST HOW. 


Dish the toast, — the salmon. — Put the popovers 
last upon their plates, and send all in. 


TEA. — NO. IV. 


Seven o’clock. — Huckleberry-cake. — Bread and 
butter. — Scorched fish. — Tea. } 


Wash, dry, and shred the fish beforehand. At 
six o’clock, put it over the fire, —not oz the stove, 
but raised on a trivet, —ina spider. Let it dry and 
parch slowly. 

Have all the things ready, as usual, upon your 
working-table, for making cake, etc., and cream the 
butter for the cake. 

Beat eggs, and be ready to mix the cake quickly 
at quarter past six, and put it into the oven. — Put 
the spider, with the fish, upon the stove, and turn 
and tend the bits of fish. Continue to manage this, 
as may be required, so as to thoroughly crisp and 
brown it, while the rest of your work goes on. See 
to it during the last moments of the baking, and if 
necessary, set the spider into a cover-hole. Toss 
and turn the shreds until they are scorched, not 
burned. Set aside when you take out your cake. 

At five minutes to seven, steep the tea. 

Cut the cake with a hot knife, through the upper- 
crust, break it in strips, and pile on plates for the 
table. 

Send all in. 








FUST HOW. 307 


SCALLOPED OYSTERS, 


This is such a frequent and favorite dish for tea 
or supper, that I think it may well come in here, 
since it was inadvertently omitted in the earlier 
part, among the recipes. 

Make ready : One quart of solid oysters, carefully 
stripped of sand and shell. — The liquor drained and 
strained, and enough hot water added to make a half- 
pint. — If wine is used, let it make a third, or more, 
of the measure of liquid. — Salt to a sea-flavor, and 
set where it will heat.— A heaping half pint cup of 
fine cracker crumbs. — An even saltspoonful of pep- 
per, and a heaping one of mace, mixed dry with the 
crumbs. — Half a cupful, pretty compact, of broken 
butter, melted. 

Mix the melted butter with the seasoned cracker 
_ crumbs till all are crisp and buttery. 

Put a layer of crumbs in a buttered dish, moisten 
them with a few spoonfuls of the liquid, then put in 
an even, close layer of oysters. Repeat these lay- 
ers, with the moistening, till everything is used. 

Bake three quarters of an hour, or an hour. 

If the top crumbs do not seem moist and rich 
enough when half baked, drop some bits of butter 
upoh them, and add, if needed, a little hot water 
with a spoon. Brown nicely. 


308 GUST HOW. 


e 


SEVEN LITTLE THINGS TO KNOW. 


Ammonia, in dish-water, or in any water for 
cleaning, removes grease and soil, and leaves the 
articles cleaned very clear and bright. Use a tea- 
spoonful to two quarts of soft water. More, if the 
water is hard, or the thing to be cleansed is very 
dirty. It may be mixed with rum, or alcohol, in 
the same, or much larger proportion, for sponging 
clothing. Even up to the measure of half and half, 
it can be used for many things, according to their 
character, and the mode of application; and from 
this to the undiluted state for obstinate spots, and 
applied to them with a brush or a flannel. 

Sal soda —a lump as large as an English walnut 
in a three or four-quart kettle, or more according 
to circumstances — is good for boiling out tins and 
irons. Leave them on a long time, and keep them 
filled up with water. 


When iron utensils — as spiders, griddles, and 
gridirons — are very bad, heat gradually, then put 
them zz¢o the range or furnace, and burn them out 
in a strong fire. The excellent housekeeper who 
told me this said that all the sooty crust would burn 
off, and they would come out as good as new. 


A strong suds, made with soft soap, is excellent 
for silver. Leave the articles in for some time, — 
while you are washing other dishes, for instance, — 








UST HOW. 309 


then add scalding water, that they may come out 
hot, —which is an essential condition for the polish- 
ing of silver, glass, or china, —and take one by one 
and rub hard with the towel. Silver can be kept 
brilliantly clean for months in this way, if so washed 
after every using. A little ammonia may be added 
to the suds. 


Dinner dishes and plates, which have had greasy 
food upon them, may be rubbed off with a little 
Indian meal before putting into water. They are 
thus prevented from making the water unfit for con- 
tinued use, and the meal, saved by itself, is good for 
the pig or the chickens, if you have them. 

_ If anything is spilled, or boils over, on the stove, 
and makes a smoke and bad odor, sprinkle a little 
salt upon it and it will be immediately counteracted. 


Ice may be kept very nicely without a refrigera- 
tor, if wrapped closely in a strong, thick cotton 
cloth, and put in the cellar in a large tub, supported 
in such a way that the water from it may not rise 
around it. The evaporation from the wet cloth re- 
tards the melting. 


LAST WORDS. 


It is certain that a woman cannot want the last 
word, simply because nobody seems to know so well 
as a woman that there can be no last word. Other 
people suppose that there is such a thing as a final- 


310 GUST HOW, 


ity ; a woman perceives that there is always more 
to be said—-or done—on any side of anything. 
For that very reason, she is always sitnegling with 
@ last word, 

I want to say one or two of them before the cov- 
ers of my little domestic treatise close inexoranly: 
upon them. 

If you have followed — either practically or in 
mere review — the order of my essay, you have 
perceived that as it has gone on, it has gradually 
made allowance for a forming judgment, and that 
common sense which was taken for granted at the 
outset ; and has ceased to reiterate, in detail, all 
the settings-forth and preparations that were begun 
with. It is supposed that as breakfasts come before 
dinners, and the making of breads before the con- 
coction of sauces, puddings, and sweetmeats, — the 
training in the first things will have given the index 
for the subsequent; and that from step to step, and 
process to process, first principles may be consid- 
ered as established and made habitual, for under- 
standing and practice throughout. I have repeated 
quite persistently enough, I am well aware; but I 
have not strung my story altogether on the house- 
that-Jack-built plan. 

I would ask that you please to take it as a whole 
and examine it as such; not treat it as a compen- 
dium for mere specific and detached reference. I 
have wished to give some simple idea of the rela- 
tions from which work out all “differentiations ” 











YUST HOW. 311 


that are and may be in domestic art, and that reach 
far beyond my specific knowledge; so that one 
thing may easily lead to another with you, and you 
may do a great deal more on principle than you 
could do by rote. 

And here comes in my apology for any possible 
oversights of author, printer, or proof-reader, which 
may affect detail, and would be so disastrous in 
merely literal, mechanical directions. If you‘detect 
any small lapsus or inconsistency of the sort, after 
all the care that it has been possible to take against 
it, —refer and subject the question to the principles 
laid down for the construction of all such formule, 
and for the very detection of any such incongruity ; 
and do not be hampered by the formule them- 
selves. 

Improve and invent, as fast as you can; they are 
-meant for a basis for improvement and invention. 

And most especially, do not let your taste or con- 
science be compelled by any arbitrary rules of any- 
body’s, in material or proportion. You may make 
things more or less rich, or sweet, — more or less, 
or differently, spicy ; it will not alter essentials. 

Think for yourself; the present purpose is accom- 
plished if you have been shown in any degree “Just 
How” to think. 


























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